


all things go

by dracodormien



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bumbling Reporter Kara Danvers, But also a complete disregard of the canon timeline, Emotionally Repressed Lena Luthor, F/F, Food as a Language of Love, Lena gets a low-level IT job, Running Away, Slow Burn, The Dysfunctional Luthor Family, and over-engineers a simple task, hacking shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-01-24 08:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracodormien/pseuds/dracodormien
Summary: After Lex’s defeat, Lena packs a bag, gives away her shares at LuthorCorp, and moves to National City with a different name.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 339
Kudos: 1500





	1. Chapter 1

After Lex’s defeat, Lena packs a bag, gives away her shares at LuthorCorp, and moves to National City with a different name: Lena Kieran.

It’s probably foolish, not changing her first name at all, and using her middle name. But it’s also therapeutic, in a sense. Kieran was her birth mother’s last name, and _ Lena Kieran _ is who she would have been had the Luthors never adopted her.

She will be who she was always supposed to be.

Lillian would be proud. Lillian would be furious.

//

Lena donates everything.

There’s a children’s hospital owned by LuthorCorp that she gives 20 million dollars to.

An orphanage in Metropolis receives 5 million.

She also donates 8 million to a pro-alien non-profit organization.

Everything’s done anonymously.

//

There’s a little over five hundred grand in her bank account when she’s done. She manages to pull a few strings and withdraws it all out.

She leaves the Luthor name with nothing but a duffle bag of her belongings, a few wads of cash.

//

Lena still hates flying, so she decides to drive all the way to National City.

She buys the cheapest (but also cleanest) second-hand car she could find. It’s a bright blue Ford Fiesta and a Luthor would never be caught dead in it. Good thing she’s no longer one.

On her third night on the road, she remembers Jack Spheer. She buys a burner phone and sends him a text message with only two words and a million meanings: _ I’m sorry_.

She almost regrets not saying goodbye in person, but swallows it down. He would’ve tried to stop her.

The phone is thrown away immediately and she doesn’t think of it again.

//

The drive to National City takes a week and some. She calls it a road trip and stops to sleep at a shabby motel or inn every night.

She goes through a Big Belly Burger drive through and decides that she likes cheeseburgers now. She has it for dinner more than once.

It’s midnight when she arrives at National City. 

She’s waiting at a motel’s lobby when a headline from the day’s _ National City Tribune _ catches her eye:

_ LUTHOR HEIR REMAINS SILENT AFTER VENTURE SPACECRAFT MALFUNCTION _

She rolls her eyes. _ Great_, she thinks to herself, _ I’ve only been gone for a week and suddenly I’m to blame for a broken spaceship. _

Curiosity nags at her, so she picks it up and skims through the article.

_ Following the spacecraft’s engine malfunction during its launch, the Venture has released a statement revealing that the source of the malfunction was likely in the ship’s oscillator, which was manufactured by LuthorCorp. No one from the manufacturing company has reached out to comment on this development. _

Her first impulse is to be offended, because _ how dare they question the integrity of LuthorCorp’s aerospace division? _

Before she’s able to read any further, the receptionist returns. She books a room and passes out on the bed.

//

She’s hungry when she wakes up, and she realizes that she completely missed lunch and dinner the previous day. After stuffing a few twenty’s in her wallet, she sets off to explore the city.

She buys a veggie sub from a street vendor for the first time ever and sits in the park a few blocks from her motel.

The sun shines a little differently in National City than it does in Metropolis. Metropolis is wet and cold, while National City is all yellow and warm.

She spends a portion of her time walking around the city and finds it a lot quieter. There’s still the sound of cars and street chatter, but it’s not in the same level of noise as Metropolis.

While Metropolis is all busy sidewalks, neon lights, and flashy advertising boards; National City is open streets adorned with palm trees.

She stumbles into the city’s business district and buys a National City Travel Guide booklet in a news stand (she pointedly ignores the newspapers and magazines), and settles in a small cafe.

_ NATIONAL CITY: THE HOME OF SUPERGIRL _

It’s the first similarity to Metropolis she finds: the sprawling and ever-familiar ‘S’ that decorates the majority of the booklet’s cover. But that’s about it.

The resident Super has always been a vocal advocate of alien rights. The city’s been unofficially deemed the alien capital of the world, so extraterrestrial refugees more or less always find their way into the city to be under Supergirl’s protection.

With National City’s significant alien community, it’ll be the last place people would check for a lost Luthor.

And when Lillian inevitably tracks and chases her down, with guns blazing and all the trouble and spectacle she can muster, Supergirl will stand between them.

(Or so she hopes.)

//

It’s been a week since she’s moved to National City and it’s about time she makes a life out of it.

She buys a top-of-the-line computer and builds up Lena Kieran’s resume using online classes and free certifications, because she probably can’t use her three degrees anymore.

Her resume comes out unimpressive but she gets a call back from three of the twenty-six companies she’s applied to.

She probably over-does it, but she gets a position in IT.

//

Despite being the home of Supergirl, the most powerful woman in National City is human.

Cat Grant.

She remembers meeting her briefly at a gala in Metropolis three years ago. Cat called her _ Lianne _ the entire night and left early.

Lena thinks she could make a home out of her media empire.

//

The man who tours her around the CatCo Worldwide Media office is boring and wearing a shirt two sizes too big in the most horrendous color Lena’s ever seen (it manages to be both mustard and beige).

“Here’s the server room,” he drones out, gesturing towards the panels of glass separating them and the line of computer servers at the other side.

It looks like a glorified closet and Lena has to stop herself from scoffing and saying, _ this is it? _

When the man tells her that he’ll finally be showing her to her desk, she expects to be led to a reclusive office cube.

What she doesn’t expect is going up to CatCo’s top floor and being shown a desk right in the view of the glass-walled office so clearly labeled: _ Cat Grant, CEO_. There’s a nervous shiver that runs down her spine that she almost fails to repress.

_ She barely remembered my name_, she tells herself, _ she won’t remember my face_.

Lena spends the rest of the first day being an employee of CatCo getting briefed over the company’s vision and her job’s responsibilities.

//

CatCo’s IT department isn’t quite on the same caliber as Lena’s used to. They’re mostly there to renew software licenses and assisting employees when they forget the password to their machine.

She arrives way too early on her second day wearing the most banal button-up and slacks she could find in the nearest department store. Her heels are Louis Vuitton, but it’s vague enough that people won’t notice.

When it’s five minutes to 9 o’clock, a short, curly-haired rambunctious blonde steps onto the floor carrying a cup of coffee and all but runs towards the glass door of Cat Grant’s office. Lena tracks her movements, and the blonde just ends up a few feet from her desk.

They catch each other’s eye when the woman’s flicker in recognition and she chirps, “Oh! You must be Winn’s replacement.” A confused look probably shows up on Lena’s face, and the girl must notice because she continues with, “You’re the new IT person?”

Lena guesses that she must be. “Um,” she says, “yeah.”

“I’m Eve Teschmacher,” she introduces herself. “I’m Ms. Grant’s new assistant, and Kara’s replacement!”

The only name Lena really registers is _ Ms. Grant_, so she only nods and responds, “I’m Lena”—she gets some nerves at the practiced ease of her saying her name, so she quickly follows it up with—“Kieran! I’m Lena Kieran.”

_ It probably was a bad idea to use my actual name_, she berates herself, _ But what’s done is done. _

Someone whisper-shouts a “She’s coming!” that makes Eve stand straighter and everyone else hop onto their feet. Lena’s too bewildered to question what’s happening before she’s standing up herself.

A _ ding _ from an elevator that Lena didn’t even notice at first reverberates around the bullpen and Cat Grant emerges. _ Yep_, Lena confirms, _ I definitely remember her. _ Cat sweeps up the room and almost glides towards her office amidst the silence.

Everyone watches Cat Grant settle onto her desk. It’s not until she’s seated herself that Eve enters her office with the coffee and everyone lets out a collective sigh and sits back down.

Even _ Lillian Luthor _ couldn’t command that presence, and her net worth exceeds the entirety of CatCo’s.

It’s a bit majestic, Lena thinks.

When everything settles down onto the work day, she’s given the most exciting task of sorting through spam email. She manages to automate it before it’s even lunch time.

Thirty minutes before lunch, Eve Teschmacher jogs to the elevator. She returns fifteen minutes later with a brown paper bag. Eve smiles at her as she passes her desk.

At 12 o’clock, Lena decides to head out for lunch so she reaches over her desk to turn off her monitors. She’s collecting her phone when a loud, bellowing voice (that she soon learns is Cat Grant’s) shouts from behind her:

“_Miss Teschmacheeeer! _”

Lena jolts around in alarm, looking over the direction of Cat Grant’s office. She can see her through the glass walls and she’s standing behind her desk, leaning forward with both hands planted on the table in front of her.

She’s familiar with the look on Cat Grant’s face; she’s been on the receiving end of it a lot of times from her old boarding school dean when she’s been caught smoking behind the girls’ dorms more than once.

Before she can even look at Eve in alarm, the assistant is already darting to her boss’ office.

She doesn’t know why she hangs around, but she hears vague snippets of the very one-sided conversation happening behind the glass doors. It’s something about a drowning salad.

A few shouts later, and with a final shriek of “_Call Kiera! _”, Eve runs out of her office in tears. Lena can do nothing but watch her dash out.

Lena looks around the bullpen in incredulity but no one even glances up throughout the entire ordeal. She thinks to snip a look back at Cat Grant, but ultimately decides against it.

She goes to lunch.

//

Despite the debacle between Cat Grant and her assistant, the rest of her day is uneventful. She packs her up her canvas messenger bag (_A Luthor using a canvas messenger bag_, she giddily thinks, _ who would have thought? _) and decides to go—

_ I’ve been living in a motel room. _

She should really get an apartment.

//

Lena goes through the arduous process of apartment hunting as soon as the weekend lands.

While what’s left of her cash could possibly cover a nice apartment’s down payment and a few months’ rent, her measly income from her entry-level IT position would barely be able to keep up.

She decides to live small.

She entertains the idea of having a roommate for one critical minute and unsurprisingly dismisses it.

It’s past lunchtime and Lena’s been awake since 7 in the morning looking at places when she finally finds it.

There’s an apartment three blocks away from CatCo that’s similar in size to her bathroom at the Luthor Manor. It’s unfurnished, the walls are stark white, and the floors are made of wood look tiles. It’s such a contrast to her old apartment that she announces that she’ll be taking it three steps in.

She’s now the proud tenant of a studio apartment at National City.

It’s odd to be happy about it, Lena thinks. It’s an odd thing to be happy at all.

//

She moves in that same day. All her belongings fit inside a duffle bag so there’s not much packing involved.

It’s takes her an hour to choose a mattress at the Home Depot and too late to realize that she forgot to buy a bed frame to go along with it. The movers don’t give her an odd look when she awkwardly tells them to just drop her newly-bought mattress on the floor.

The Home Depot is 30 minutes away from closing time when she realizes that she’s forgotten to buy pillows, sheets, and blankets, too.

//

It’s a testament to how Lena’s been so disconnected with the rest of the world that the first time she hears of the Alien Amnesty Act being approved is from the fleeting conversations she hears on her way to work.

The president’s going to visit town and Supergirl’s on the welcoming committee.

//

CatCo is abuzz with activity, and Lena remembers that although it’s not known for its particularly hard-hitting articles, their editor-in-chief is still a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

She catches sight of him during the meeting at Cat’s glass-walled office. He looks and acts exactly as one would expect someone to be when they’re named _ Snapper Carr_. He’s the first one out of as soon as they’re dismissed.

A preppy blonde woman with glasses marches after him with an entirely too affronted tone to her steps. She yells a “Mr. Carr!” but ends up getting ignored.

Lena’s gaze leaves the monitors in front of her and goes to the woman left standing in the middle of the bullpen watching Snapper Carr’s retreating back, stuttering out a mess. Lena can’t help but raise a brow in amusement at the series of stammered words coming out of the blonde’s mouth.

She almost feels bad for her.

The blonde woman doesn’t even spare her a glance when she turns around and marches back to Cat’s office.

Now Lena really _ does _ feel bad for her. Cat’s going to eat her alive with that attitude.

She decides to tune in on the impending explosion, but all that happens is the blonde _ ranting _ to _ Cat Grant _ of all people, and the woman actually _ listening _ without butting in. It ends with the blonde _ requesting _ of all things that Cat Grant talk to Snapper Carr, _ please_.

It seems to be what snaps Cat Grant back to her usual self. “_Kiera_,” she says, chastising but firm, “If he won’t give you a story, then you go find one yourself.”

“But he won’t even listen to me!” the woman whines. She sounds like a petulant child and Lena’s unimpressed.

“Because he thinks you’re not worth listening to,” Cat tells her. “You have to show him that you are.”

It’s pretty good advice, Lena thinks. And she’s surprised that it comes from Cat Grant telling off a peevish employee that she seems to _ like _ (which is saying a lot, considering that it’s Cat Grant). But she’s even more surprised that it works.

The blonde woman (who’s apparently named Kiera—or is it? She never knows when it’s Cat Grant), marches out of Cat’s office with a new resolve.

Lena is left feeling a little bit dumbfounded at the outcome of the conversation.

_ What the hell? _

//

Not being a part of the news division of CatCo also means not having anything to do during momentous occasions such as these, because the office is mostly empty and no one’s around to tell you to work if you aren’t.

Reporters are all hands on deck, running around National City gathering up sources and interviewing key people surrounding the event.

Photographers are already at the venue of the signing, scoping out the area, looking for the most optimal angles.

Cat Grant isn’t at her office either. She’s probably at some exclusive VIP viewing of the event in an undisclosed location.

(_She wonders—if she were Lena Luthor right now, at National City, would she be interviewed by a CatCo reporter, too? _

_ She mentally scoffs. _

_ Of course she would be. She’s the sister of the most notorious alien-hater in the world, after all._)

The office is quiet, and there’s also barely a trickle of spam mail coming in so she literally has nothing to do. It’s like all the people on Earth took a break to watch this world-changing moment.

...and Lena’s at her desk, sorting out spam email. She bites at her bottom lip and contemplates.

She might as well join in.

//

As if it wasn’t too big of a spectacle already—the Earth is at the beginnings of opening its doors to beings all over the universe, then an alien decides to shoot fireballs at the _ President of the United States _ just as she’s about to make history.

Everything happens all at once, after that.

It’s the first time she _ actually _ sees Supergirl in the flesh, landing in front the president with a loud boom. Another fireball gets shot at them and the hero throws her cape around herself like a shield but she still gets blasted off the stage.

Lena looks over to the source of the projectiles and sees what would look like a regular woman a few feet away—except both her hands are poised in front of her, aflame. It’s also the first time Lena actually sees a hostile alien, and her stress level skyrockets, alarm bells ringing in her head. Her fight-or-flight response kicks in and she curses—_really _ curses—that her immediate response is to _ fight_.

And fight she did, albeit uselessly. She grabs cracked up cement debris from the ground and just _ flings _ it towards the alien. It hits her square at the back of her head just as she’s propelling her hand back to presumably throw another fireball at the president.

The rock Lena throws doesn’t really seem to outwardly harm the literally red-hot-angry alien, but it does get her attention. The alien’s head snaps towards her direction and Lena immediately sees the consequences of her actions.

_ I’ve made a terrible mistake_, she off-handedly and inappropriately thinks.

The alien’s eyes that are menacingly looking at her start glowing and Lena can do nothing but stare right back at it and take several stumbling steps back. Just as the alien’s about to tear a flaming hole in her skull, Lena’s suddenly getting tackled, all the air leaving her lungs in one fell swoop as she hits the ground with a surprising amount of force.

“Holy shit!” her tackler exclaims, voice laced in adrenaline, “You really just threw a rock at an Infernian!”

Before Lena can even _ comprehend _ what she’s done, the body on top of her suddenly heaves and rolls, bringing Lena along with her. A blast of heat vision hits the spot they were just at and Lena decides to just make sense of the situation she’s gotten herself into when she’s out of immediate danger.

Somewhere in her peripheral, a woman shouts, “Maggie, stay down!”

Whoever’s on top of her—presumably Maggie—shields her head under their arms and braces. Gunshots are fired, but there’s also the tell tale sound of heat vision going off.

Maggie springs to her feet and draws out her gun before she can even stand—she does it as if it’s second nature to her, and Lena deduces she’s a cop. “Get out of—!”

A fireball hits the ground near Maggie’s feet and Lena quickly pulls her back by her shirt before the cop stumbles into the flame it makes.

“Son of a—”

Then suddenly Supergirl is there, firing at the alien with her own brand of heat vision. The _ Infernian_—as Lena’s been informed just earlier—reciprocates.

A loud _ boom _ fills Lena’s ears.

The contact of both energies creates an explosion small enough to not harm anyone around them, but big enough to knock Maggie, Lena, and the woman from earlier away a few feet.

_ Infernian _ runs through Lena’s brain. She goes through the memory Lex’s database of different species of aliens and she remembers.

(_Infernians: capable of creating and controlling fire._)

“Vacuum!” Lena wheezes out, her breath a little short from being forcibly thrown to the ground a little too much today.

The woman from earlier snaps her head towards her. They lock eyes for a split second before hers widen in sudden realization, then she twists to look over at Supergirl and yells, “She’s right! Supergirl, you have to make a vacuum!”

Supergirl nods in acknowledgement, then she takes off, flying small, tight circles around the Infernian.

It’s exhilarating to watch her in action, Lena thinks, even though she sees nothing but a red and blue blur, her speed too much for her eyes to register.

It’s different from hearing about a hero saving the day, or seeing them carry the weight of a plane through a TV screen. It’s mesmerizing, right now, to see a Super’s abilities in front of her eyes, and for a brief moment of clarity, she finally understands Lex’s fixation.

Then suddenly it’s all too much. The meaning behind her thoughts hit her like a freight train, and the absurdity of the situation catches up to her.

The Infernian is subdued, her flames tapering out.

Lena’s heart is racing. She scrambles to get back up on her feet, but her hands are shaking so much she only manages to get on her knees. Her heart feels like it’s about to jump out and she wants to reach inside to stop it, but she only ends up clawing at her chest.

Someone’s kneeling in front of her, she notices. They bring Lena’s hands into their own and presses a palm against her chest. They’re saying something, but Lena honestly can’t hear with all the rushing and ringing in her ears.

The sight of whoever’s in front of her blurs in and out, and whatever she breathes in never quite settles in her lungs.

_ Oh god I’m gonna pass out _ is the last thing she thinks of before passing out.

//

Lena comes to in a hospital. She’s still in her own clothes.

“Hey,” someone says from a few feet away.

Lena turns to look at the source of the voice and sees the cop who tackled her, now wearing an NCPD windbreaker, peeking through the curtains separating her from the rest of the room.

“I’m Detective Maggie Sawyer from the NCPD. Can I come in?”

Lena only nods. No use stopping the inevitable.

Maggie steps closer and sits down on the chair placed beside her bed. Lena expects her to immediately fire off questions that need answers—_How did you know what to do with the Infernian? What are you doing in National City? Who are you, really?_—but instead, she only tells her, “It’s a brave thing, what you did today.”

Lena blinks at her. “I—” Her voice is hoarse and scratchy, so she clears her throat and tries again. “I had a panic attack and then passed out.”

“Yeah, you did.” There’s a twinkle of amusement at her eyes, and Lena realizes that the detective isn’t patronizing her at all. “But not before saving the president’s life, then saving my life, then figuring out how to stop an _ Infernian_.”

Lena lets out an indignant scoff. “Most of those were split-second reactions than actual conscious decisions.”

Maggie actually laughs at that, but her voice is serious when she says, “You still did them. It doesn’t matter why in situations like those. You saved lives, including mine and the president’s.”

“Intention is the basis of the goodness of an action.”

“Accept the compliment, lady.”

Lena sighs. “You saved my life, too,” she says. “Thank you.”

Maggie smiles at her. “It’s my job.”

There’s a beat of silence before Lena asks, “When do I get to leave?”

“I’m just here to see if you’re up to giving us a statement,” Maggie tells her. “But the doctors have told me that you’re free to go once you regain consciousness and the nurses check you out.”

Lena chews on her bottom lip. “Do I have to?”

“Oh, um.” Maggie’s eyebrows draws together. “You’re not required to.”

“I’d rather not.”

The detective’s jaw unhinges for a moment before she collects herself. “Alright then,” she tells Lena, standing up. “Thank you for your time, Miss—”

“Kieran,” Lena supplies. “My name is Lena Kieran.”

“Well, thank you for your time, Ms. Kieran.” Maggie moves to leave. “I’ll send the nurses in to check you out.”

Lena nods once. “Thank you, Detective Sawyer.”

//

Once the nurses check her out and she signs the discharge papers, Lena heads straight for her apartment.

She dreams of nothing that night.

//

Lena goes to work the next day.

She sits at her desk, fires up her automatic spam email sorter (it’s an incredibly over-engineered email sorter, and possibly the most advanced software in the building), and decides that she doesn’t want to be around the people in the bullpen.

The head of the IT department is named Mackenzie, “But you can call me Macky.” She’s an Asian woman with immaculate hair.

“Macky,” Lena tests, “can I borrow the key to the server room?”

“Hey, you’re the new hire, right? The one assigned to Ms. Grant.”

“Um, yeah.” Lena hesitates. “Assigned to Ms. Grant?”

“Yep,” she confirms. “We always have at least one of us near the boss in case she has any sudden, crazy requests. The last guy resigned.”

“And you put me there?”

“You seemed like you knew a bit of everything during your technical interview, so you were pretty much perfect for the job.”

Lena _ did _ show off a bit during her technical interview, but it was just to compensate for her frankly lacking resume.

“Oh.”

“Anyway, what did you need?”

Lena perks up a little. _ Right_. “Um, the key to the server room.”

“The boss finally put you up to something, huh?”

“Sure.”

Macky chuckles. “It was only a matter of time.”

_ Sure it was. _

“Anyway, your keycard has full access. Perks of being assigned to Ms. Grant.” She winks.

//

True to Macky’s words, the lock _ dings _ with a green light when she swipes her keycard.

The size of CatCo’s server room is pretty much nothing compared to LuthorCorp’s (theirs spans an entire floor—and that’s just for the main headquarters, which doesn’t even house the servers for the international offices).

She’s already sitting and facing the terminal when she realizes that she’s forgotten to ask for the login.

Lena chews on her bottom lip and slumps down on the chair to contemplate her next move. She stares at the keyboard and just… she could probably _ guess_, maybe, but come on, how many times have that actually worked in real life?

(She remembers a story Lex told her about the day he had to fire an entire team of scientists.

“An entire _ team_?” Lena asked in disbelief.

“The password to their console was taped on their coffee maker, Lena,” Lex explained. “It’s that sort of disregard for information security that LuthorCorp can’t risk.”)

Lena takes a deep breath and shuffles around the desk, rummages through the drawers, flips through misplaced documents, checks under the mouse, mousepad, and it’s when she lifts up the keyboard to check underneath it that she finds what she’s looking for.

There’s a worn and stained piece of paper taped to the table with only one thing written on it:

_ @LLid0!sW1nn _

She can’t help but laugh at the obvious pun. _ No, Winn, _ she thinks to herself, _All _ I _ do is win. _

To be completely honest, she’s only here to hook up her automatic spam email sorter straight to the server. Her computer’s starting to stutter with the amount it’s processing all at once, so having the emails sorted before it even lands in anyone’s inbox could possibly lessen the load.

Once she sets up her system, she works on establishing a connection when she gets the sudden alert that the port is already being used.

She quirks up brow in confusion and looks at the existing connections to the server and gets back a list of all the IP addresses of all the machines at the CatCo building. She idly scans it when she notices that one of the addresses are not like the others.

She leans in closer to the screen just to make sure she’s seeing right.

It’s a remote connection.

She opens up the request logs for the server and filters out the local connections.

There’s a timestamp along each request, and she scrolls up a considerable amount and sees that the connection’s been there for _ months_.

She notices, with increasing uneasiness, that there’s a request to and from the remote network every single day, in one hour intervals.

And as if sensing her, a new request pops up.

_ What. The. Fuck. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena meets Cat, then Kara.

The first thing Lena does is terminate all remote connections to the server. What she doesn’t anticipate is accidentally cutting off all the machines from the internet.

She scrambles to get everything back up and running but it takes her 3 minutes too long and she hears Macky knocking on the glass panes outside the server room.

“Did you hear the intercom?” Macky asks her when she walks out.

Lena did not. “What intercom?”

“Ms. Grant,” she says as way of explanation. “Her internet connection wonked up. You need to get up there.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you’re the one assigned to Ms. Grant.”

//

She’s speed-walking her way to Cat Grant’s office when Eve blocks her path.

“Lena!” She looks a little frazzled. “Where have you _ been_?”

_ Discovering that someone’s been hacking this company for months. _ “Fixing the internet connection down at IT.”

“You fixed it?!”

“It was only really down for a second.”

“Ms. Grant’s been looking for you for the past 10 minutes!”

“I’m going there now.” Lena gives Eve a tight-lipped smile to try and assuage her concerns and she walks around her. She almost wants to apologize because she knows that Cat would’ve probably found a way to blame her poor assistant for the internet tripping up.

Her knock at Cat Grant’s glass door goes unacknowledged. She awkwardly stands at the other side until she glances over at Eve desperately. Eve snaps back into assistant mode and enters Cat’s office and announces, “Ms. Grant, Ms. Kieran from IT is here.”

“Send them in, Eva.”

Eve shoves Lena in the office. Cat Grant doesn’t even look up from whatever she’s reading on her laptop when she enters. Lena’s about to make herself known with a low cough, but then...

“Lena Kieran, 23, Programmer.”

Hearing other people refer to her as Lena _ Kieran _ still sounds a bit foreign to her, and she almost doesn’t register it when Cat Grant reads from, what she presumes is, her resume. “Um,” Lena stammers, catching up, “that’s me.”

A few more seconds pass before Cat Grant glances her way, looking her up and down. Lena feels like she’s being scrutinized, so muscle memory kicks in; she sticks her chin out and stands straighter. One of Cat’s eyebrows shoot up at her change of posture, and there’s the beginnings of a smirk showing up on her face. “I see...” she trails off with an undertone of amusement.

“I’ve already fixed the internet connection,” Lena informs her. “If that’s why you called for me.”

“So you have.” Cat continues to look at her, eyes lingering at her shoes before she meets Lena’s eyes. “I _ see_,” she says with a more obvious lilt.

Lena resists the urge to glance down. She vaguely remembers putting on her Louis Vuitton heels, but it’s nondescript enough that people would barely recognize the brand—_right?_—and the rest of her ensemble she got as part of her wardrobe overhaul of the gaudiest button-ups and comfiest slacks she could find in a department store.

“Yes,” Lena says more firmly, looking straight at Cat. “Is that all, Ms. Grant?”

Cat leans back into her chair without breaking eye contact. Another beat passes without either speaking, and Lena recognizes it as a stand-off. She’s caught between her instincts telling her to match up; or stand down to preserve the character she’s built around herself. Pride makes her give in to instincts.

There’s something about Cat Grant that Lena doesn’t want to lose to.

Neither of them stands down. But when the beat passes, Cat’s grinning like she’s won. “Close the door and sit down.”

And Lena knows that she’s lost.

//

She’s heard stories about Cat Grant, as did everyone in the exclusive circle families such as the Luthors belonged to, but none of them has ever faced the _ Queen of all Media _ herself.

The Luthors have earned their reputation of being both an enigmatic and private family. They’ve been careful to never generate enough scandal to warrant the scrutiny of the press (or they never let it get to the public in the first place). People have tried in the past, of course, to peek through the cracks of the Luthor mantle, but the Luthors are also careful and calculated—nothing should’ve ever slipped through.

And for this generation of the Luthors: Lionel and Lillian had been passive and quiet enough; Lex, boisterous and ambitious as he is, avoided the press altogether (until he couldn’t); and Lena, well, she was never quite famous at all.

(Until now, Lena’s never as much been _ referred to _ in the papers.

And even now, in spite of the spotlight shining into the Luthors, in the controversy with Lex and the Venture; LuthorCorp remains silent. There had been nothing but allusions to her, or its new, elusive CEO. Lena surmises that Lillian’s been covering up.

_ We have to protect the integrity of the Luthor name_, she remembers a voice saying.)

So, what exactly did Cat Grant know?

“Before I wrote my exposé on Morgan Edge and Intergang several years ago,” Cat begins, “I was a gossip columnist for the Daily Planet. But I wanted to broaden my horizons, so to speak. I went on a research binge. I wanted to break a big story to prove myself, so I looked up all the prominent dynasties in America, just to see what I can dig up.”

_ Of course she did. _ Lena doesn’t break her eye contact with Cat.

“Three names kept coming up,” she continues, pulling her chair closer to her desk. “Wayne, Edge, and…” She tilts her head suggestively. “Luthor.”

Lena refuses to shift on her seat. Refuses to show any sign of unnerve.

“Of course, even Bruce Wayne isn’t worth enough for me to ever set foot in Gotham.” Lena gives her a look of mild suspicion. There’s an obvious secret being shared between them. “And Edge Global was based in National City, and I was in Metropolis back then. Luckily, we had our own local business magnates.”

Lena supposes that she ought to stop Cat Grant, but she doesn’t.

“Luthors are old money,” Cat tells her. Lena also knows this, of course. “And there’s a thing about families that come from generations of wealth—they’re obsessed with bloodlines, keeping their lineage pure so the money stays well within the family. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that a girl, a supposed outsider, was adopted into one of the wealthiest families in the world, back in 1997. There’s a mystery there begging to be uncovered.”

The feeling of uneasiness in Lena’s stomach rises with each passing word in Cat Grant’s monologue. _ But it’s _ my _ mystery_, she wants to retort. She’s never had to face this much probing attention head-on, and she doesn’t really know what to do with it now.

Cat continues. “I dug up everything I could about the girl. World Youth Chess Champion in 2005. Well on her way to high school varsity-level fencing at the age of 11. Went to a boarding school in Australia where she’s the top of her class. Part Irish.”

It feels all too invasive, Lena thinks. But this is what journalists do—especially one in Cat Grant’s standing—they keep digging until they find what they’re looking for, and they tell the whole world about the stories worth telling. And the Luthors—perhaps one of the most private families in the world—welcoming a stranger into their household? The world would’ve eaten it up.

All the facts Cat’s told her is true, she notes. They weren’t public knowledge, but the Luthors perfectly crafted the evidence of her existence: not exactly a secret, but still concealed, heavily, to keep her out of the prying and public eyes.

(Lena never questioned why; both because she never saw the need to ask, and she never had the chance to—because after boarding school in Australia, Lionel dies, then she’s off to MIT, and after that, to a start-up in a garage.)

(_Then she disappears to National City._)

But enough snooping and you would have come across proof of Lena Luthor. And Cat has obviously done the snooping, so where was the result? Why wasn’t anything ever published with her name?

The answer comes in an innocuous flash drive that Cat slides across her desk.

“What’s this?” Lena asks, eyeing the device.

“Everything I have on Lena Luthor.” When Lena looks back at her, she sees a flash of an emotion she isn’t familiar with. “In the middle of my investigation, I was having my own family crisis. I didn’t want to ruin another child’s life.”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“You know why.”

A beat passes. “You just always have this with you?”

Cat gives her the exasperated look that she gives everyone else. “Of course not,” she scoffs. “I had it on my very old laptop. I pulled it up again when I saw your name on a resume.”

Lena reaches over and picks up the flash drive. “How did you know?” She couldn’t believe it—but what did she expect? That she’d never be discovered? (She knows she will be. Eventually. She shelves the thought.)

“I wasn’t sure at first,” Cat confesses. “But _ Lena Kieran _ was sparking an odd memory. I thought back and pulled up my old files. And then you came in wearing $900 heels.”

Lena finally spares a glance down at her shoes. They were modest-looking, but Louis Vuitton all the same. “I thought it was discreet enough.”

“I have the same pair sitting in my closet.”

Lena fiddles with the device in her hands. “This is the only copy?”

“I’ve deleted mine and have never shared it with anyone.”

She pockets the flash drive and lets out a shaky breath. She doesn’t notice how much she’s trembling until she looks at her hands. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because once upon a time, I also moved to National City to try and get a fresh start.”

Lena swallows heavily. All sense of composure is lost now. She’s shaking when she looks back at Cat.

“I’m not going to _ expose _ you if that’s what you’re worried about.” The sentiment does nothing to ease her.

“What do you want from me?” Lena quavers. “I don’t have _ anything _ anymore.”

Cat gives her a look that’s not quite pity—_empathy_, she recalls somewhat, from a distant memory. “Just promise me one thing: don’t take too long.”

“With what?”

“With all… this.” She gestures vaguely to all of her. “The longer you avoid the past, the harder it’s going to crash back into you. And the more difficult it is to piece yourself back together.”

There’s a stinging in Lena’s eyes and a lump in her throat. She can’t believe that it’s _ Cat Grant _ of all people that’s telling her all of this, but there’s a part of her still grateful that she hears it from someone.

“Now, pull yourself together before you leave this office,” Cat says, straightening herself, raising a hand to fix the placement of her glasses that’s ridden down the bridge of her nose. “You can have the rest of the day off if you so please. I have a conference call that I’m late to.”

Lena straightens herself up before getting up from the chair. She still can’t quite believe the conversation that just transpired, and she doesn’t know what else to say, but she does find herself trusting that Cat Grant won’t expose her. She lingers standing in front of her for a few seconds more before murmuring out a hesitant “Thank you.”

Cat doesn’t look at her, doesn’t even acknowledge the thank you, but there’s a telltale sign of a smile on her face when Lena exits the room.

//

Lena is still less than professionally composed when she leaves Cat’s office and straight up _ bumps _ into someone. And _ bump _ is probably an understatement, because it feels more like a _ slam _ and Lena’s sent tumbling down the floor.

“Oh no!” whoever’s _ slammed _ into her exclaims. A hand reaches out to Lena and she’s being pulled up—with surprising and significant ease. Her head is still spinning when she gets back on her feet. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you!”

“_Jesus_.” Lena stumbles, still regaining her balance. The stranger reaches an arm out and Lena grips it. “I could’ve sworn I walked straight into a wall.” When she collects herself, she gets a look at the stranger she’s bumped into and recognizes the preppy reporter ranting to Cat Grant from the day before. (_I think her name is Kiera? Or is it?_)

“Nope, just plain ol’ me,” the reporter says. “I’m sorry, I can be such a klutz.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t really looking where I was going either.” She dusts over her clothes, and notices that she’s still gripping the reporter’s arm and quickly lets go.

“I was on my way to Ms. Grant’s office.” She looks past Lena’s shoulder. “But I guess she’s busy now.”

“She mentioned a conference call.”

“Oh, okay… you were just there?”

“Yeah, the internet tripped out and she called for IT.”

The reporter slowly nods. “Oh. Right. Yeah. The internet. It was down for a… while.”

_ What? Come on. No it wasn’t. _ “It was only really down for a second,” Lena grumbles defensively, but the reporter only brushes past her sentiment.

“I’m Kara, by the way!” She sticks her hand out—and Lena almost recoils at the volume and sheer peppiness of her voice. “Kara Danvers!”

“Lena Kieran.” She reaches out to shake the offered hand.

The smile Kara gives her when she introduces herself isn’t something Lena’s used to—it’s so _ bright_, and Lena either wants to bolt, shield her eyes, or both. She shoots back a smile that she hopes gives off a fraction of the energy Kara’s showing her.

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Kara,” Lena says in hopes of excusing herself, “but I’m actually on my way out.”

“Oh, right!” Then— “Are you going to get lunch?”

Lena stops in her tracks. “Um,” she stammers. “I’m actually going… home.”

Kara switches from being flustered to disappointed to concerned in the fraction of a second. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, you know.” Lena gestures vaguely. “Just not feeling well enough to finish the work day.”

The reporter looks thoughtful. “Oh, okay. Do you need any help going home?”

Lena pauses and blinks, caught off-guard with the casual offer of help, and she probably stares for a few seconds too long because Kara’s suddenly fumbling through words: “Oh my gosh! I’m so—that must’ve been so _ weird_! I didn’t—I mean, we just met! It’s not like—I didn’t mean—I just meant that—”

“Kara.”

“What I mean is,” Kara breathes, speaking more coherently this time, “Are you alright going home by yourself?”

This is honestly one of the oddest encounters Lena’s ever had. She’s had tense conversations and confrontations, but she’s never experienced anything quite like this; unrehearsed, bumbling, awkwardness. It’s also such a contrast to the conversation she’s just had with Cat Grant that she’s both mildly endeared and sort of out of her depth.

“Yes,” says Lena, ever graceful. “But thank you for the offer.”

“Sure, it’s no problem!” Kara stands aside to let her pass. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“It’s really good meeting you.” Lena means it. She’s oddly charmed by the whole ordeal. “I’ll see you around,” she says, giving her small wave before walking past her. She goes straight to elevator to catch up with it landing on her floor. When she turns around as she gets on, she’s surprised to see that Kara’s still standing where she left her.

She manages to shoot her a smile before the elevator doors close shut.

//

Here’s the thing: Kara _ meant _ to bump into Lena.

She’s just arrived back from the DEO, getting a step-by-step recount of the Infernian attack from Alex that she uses for the article that Snapper finally deemed worthy (there was also a _ quote _ from Supergirl—she admits, only to herself, that it might be cheating, but she’s desperate for approval at this point).

That’s why she was on her way to Cat’s office, to share the good news. She sees the door closed, however, which means _ privacy _ so she doesn’t listen in, and Cat is occupied with someone else in there, anyway. She resolves to wait by the entrance to the bullpen because there are couches there she can sit on.

Kara only recognizes her when she walks out of Cat’s office. _ The woman from the signing ceremony. _ She perks up a little and feels an itch of curiosity—_does she work here? _ She just means to bump into her so she can casually introduce herself. She doesn’t mean to barrel into her and knock her down to the floor. But that’s what happens.

“Oh no!” She reaches a hand out and quickly pulls the woman back on her feet. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you!” Even though she was literally right there, watching her.

“_Jesus_.” The woman’s wobbly on her feet, so Kara offers an arm to help her balance it out. She grips onto it. “I could’ve sworn I walked straight into a wall.”

Kara lets out a nervous laugh. “Nope, just plain ol’ me.” She apologizes again.

When she sees the opportunity to introduce herself, she blurts her name out too suddenly and too loudly—she can see the mild surprise her outburst causes—and she would’ve been embarrassed if the woman hadn’t responded with her own name.

_ Lena Kieran. _

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Kara, but I’m actually on my way out.”

“Oh, right!” And before she could stop herself: “Are you going to get lunch?” She winces internally. _ Okay, too forward. _

She sees Lena stammer, caught off guard again. “I’m actually going… home.”

Kara flashes back to the scene yesterday—Lena on her knees, with fast, shallow breaths, and the sound of her hammering heartbeat resonating in her eardrums, just before she falls limp on the ground. _ Is she okay? _ “Are you okay?”

“Oh, you know. Just not feeling well enough to finish the work day.”

The offer of help is a knee-jerk reaction. Kara usually excuses it and calls it her unapologetic protectiveness over the people of National City, but it doesn’t stop the blood rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment when Lena has to cut off her impending ramble.

Kara thinks the meeting’s unsalvageable at this point, but when Lena says, “It’s really good meeting you,” she sounds like she means it. And the smile she sends her way before the elevator door closes has Kara feeling hopeful.

//

Kara flies into the DEO after work.

She doesn’t see J’onn or Alex in the command center, but Winn is there, typing away on his keyboard, so she chooses to bug him, instead. “Hey, Winn!” she greets, dropping onto the swivel chair beside him.

“Hey, Kara.” He doesn’t look away from his screen when he greets her. “National City’s been quiet so far. Maybe alien amnesty is actually calming people down.”

Kara hums in agreement. “Hey, you know that woman yesterday? At the signing ceremony? With the Infernian?”

“The one that threw the rock?”

“The one that saved the president’s life while I was busy being on fire, yeah.”

Winn turns to face her, and gives her an odd look that turns into concern. “Hey, that wasn’t your fault—”

“No, no!” Kara interrupts him. “No, I know! I just mean, she did _ more _ than just throw a rock, you know? It was a stupid move, but it _ did _ save the president. Not to mention that she knew how to stop the Infernian, too.”

The look that Winn’s giving her turns weird. “Uh huh.”

“Anyway, she works at CatCo!”

Winn’s eyebrows shoot up. “She does?”

“Yep,” Kara says, popping the p. “I saw her walking out of Cat’s office and I bumped into her.”

“You _ bumped _ into her?”

“Bumped into who?” Alex appears out of nowhere, leaning against the table next to Winn’s station.

“The woman that threw the rock at the Infernian yesterday works at CatCo,” Winn says in lieu of explanation. Kara glares at him. “Sorry, the woman that _ saved the president’s life_.”

Alex snorts. “That’s a stretch.”

“You know what I mean,” Kara grumbles.

“She would’ve burned to a crisp if Maggie wasn’t there,” Alex points out. “It was a group effort at best.”

“Okay, but she _ helped_.”

“So this woman, she works at CatCo?” Kara nods. “What’s her name?”

_ Lena Kieran_, she hears her voice in her head. “Lena Kieran.”

“Winn, could you dig up info about her from CatCo’s employee database?”

“On it.”

Kara snaps her head up, incredulous at the exchange. “Wait, _ what_?”

“She knew how to subdue the Infernian, I’m curious about her,” is all Alex says.

“That’s not enough of an excuse to—to—” Kara sputters “—_spy on her!_”

“I’m not _ spying _ on her,” Alex defends.

The hero throws her hands up and makes a sound of disbelief.

“It’s just a background check,” the agent shrugs.

“You!” Kara points an accusing finger at Winn. “How do you even plan on gaining access to the CatCo database? You don’t work there anymore!”

Winn doesn’t even flinch when he answers her. “I put in an open connection to the CatCo servers months ago. I can pretty much go in whenever I want.”

Kara’s mouth drops open in shock.

“Ever since Cat Grant suspected your identity, the DEO’s been monitoring her,” Alex supplies, as if the situation wasn’t absurd enough as it is. “Don’t worry, Winn took over her case ever since he got hired.”

“_I cannot believe this!_”

“Calm down, Kara,” her sister tells her. “We know Cat’s harmless. It’s just a safety measure.”

“This is still a major breach in privacy!” Kara argues.

They go back and forth for a while.

“Guys,” Winn speaks up. He squints at his monitor. “My connection’s gone.”

Alex snaps back to attention. “What do you mean it’s _ gone_?” She plants a hand on Winn’s desk and leans closer towards his computer.

Kara just stands to the side, crossing her arms. _ Serves them right. _ (She really shouldn’t think that, they’re only protecting her.)

“I mean that it’s gone. Someone closed it.” He presses a few keys on the keyboard that Kara doesn’t really pay attention to. “Huh. And pretty much blocked out all remote connections. Yep, I’m out.”

“How does that _ happen_?” Alex demands.

“CatCo suddenly got a decent IT department?”

Kara can’t help the snort that comes out.

Alex’s head whips around to look at her. “Okay, what do you know?”

“It’s _ her_.” Kara laughs. “Lena. I bumped into her walking out of Cat’s office, and she mentioned being in IT. She’s probably a new hire since I’ve never seen her around the office.”

“That explains it,” Winn quips. “The rest of CatCo’s IT department were pretty much duds.”

Alex sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Is the DEO compromised?”

“I mean, it shouldn’t be,” Winn answers. “I masked the IP address.”

“Looks like we have to get to know her the old fashioned way,” Kara remarks all too cheerfully.

Alex glares at her sister, then at Winn. “Are you _ sure_?” she pointedly asks the latter. “Because need I remind you that this is a _ top secret _ government agency.”

Winn looks uncomfortable under the agent’s glare (as he should be). “Even if she manages to decrypt the IP address, she’ll never be able to track it down to us.”

Alex’s eyes narrows down even further. Winn shifts in his seat and pulls on his shirt collar. When he looks distressed enough, Alex switches over to her sister. “I still want info on her,” she tells her. “You’re gonna have to handle that.”

Kara seems unbothered at the pointed look she receives, and only shoots her sister a too-innocent, too-sweet smile. “I’ll bring her coffee tomorrow.”

//

Lena doesn’t know what to think of it when she arrives at CatCo the next day and sees bumbling reporter Kara Danvers standing beside her desk holding two coffee cups. The other one is obviously meant for her but she’s already bought a drink before coming in.

_ Do I throw my drink away before she sees me? _ Lena frantically thinks, but before she actually manages to follow through, Kara’s already looking up, greeting her with an excitable call of “Lena!”

Lena blinks at her for a few moments before she snaps out of it. “Good morning, Kara,” she greets her, walking towards her desk. She wants to assume that the reporter is there to ask for a favor, because she doesn’t know why else she’d be here, bringing her coffee.

“Good morning!” the reporter chirps, as energetic as she was the day before. “I bought you a—” her eyes zero in on the drink in Lena’s hands “—drink. But you already have one!” Kara bounces back as if that hasn’t completely derailed her plans.

“I’m afraid I do.” Lena raises her cup sheepishly, the ice inside jostling around. It’s a plastic cup with red foreign markings that Kara’s never seen before. Whatever drink’s inside is orange, and there are tapioca pearls floating around.

“Erm, what is it? I’ve never seen it before.”

“Thai bubble tea.” It’s the first time Lena’s trying it. She’s been expanding her food and drinks palette ever since she arrived in National City. “Anyway, what did you need?”

The reporter actually looks flustered. “Oh, nothing! I just wanted to bring you a drink, but you already have one, so it’s fine!”

_ No, that can’t be it_. Lena doesn’t believe it. “Are you—”

“Anyway, I gotta go!” And Kara straight up marches away before Lena can say anything else. “Articles aren’t gonna write themselves! Have a great day at work, Lena!” Lena blinks once and Kara’s already halfway out of the bullpen, coffee cup in either hand.

Lena can do nothing but watch after her, bemused. _ How does she walk so fast? _

//

Kara drops herself on the couch beside her sister with a heavy sigh.

“How was work?” Alex asks. She knows Kara’s been having a rough time ever since she’s become a reporter, and coming home unfulfilled from her day job has been a common occurrence the past few weeks.

“Good, actually. Snapper’s been paying attention to me and giving me actual assignments.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Yeah! I’m actually enjoying being a reporter and chasing stories.”

“That’s great!” Alex really wants to emulate the enthusiasm she should be seeing from her sister right now, but it’s hard when Kara looks like she’s just eaten a veggie potsticker when she expected a pork one. (It has happened once. They were given the wrong order and Kara spent the rest of sisters night alternating between pouting and glaring at the offending container.) Alex sighs. “Alright, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing?” Kara doesn’t sound too sure herself. “I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to that woman from the Infernian attack.”

“Oh.” Alex mentally goes over the situation—it’s not like the DEO’s been horribly compromised with Winn’s slip-up, and he _ did _ say that the IP address is pretty much untrackable. Besides, the woman was only doing her job of securing CatCo’s servers, that’s not _ her _ fault. “That’s alright. She’s probably not even a threat. Don’t worry too much about it.” She waves a hand around as if to emphasize her point. “Now, did you want Chinese or pizza?”

Kara chews on her bottom lip. “Actually, can we get Thai?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena's a menace. Kara shares her passion for food. Winn is threatened.

It’s been a week and some after Lena’s conversation with Cat Grant, and everything has been quiet so far; both in her life, and in National City. The office has been relatively peaceful, too; Lena hasn’t seen Eve cry for a few days, and no bumbling reporters have stopped by for a quick rant.

But when Lena sees her ping go up, she _ knows _ something’s going on.

(Of course she’s been keeping a close eye on the CatCo server ever since she saw that remote connection.

It’s not even supposed to be her job, but she can’t help it, she’s _ bored. _ Her spam email sorter is working so well she could probably build a cybersecurity start-up with it. She’s even already playing with the idea of asking Macky for a promotion—god knows CatCo is in desperate need for an information security officer.)

The CatCo server room has become Lena’s de facto second desk. Macky has pretty much given her express permission to use it whenever she has to—no one else does.

She reviews the open connections to the server and pretty much expects what she finds: another remote connection, but with a different IP address this time. She traces it and finds that it’s somehow from Japan.

_ Gotcha. _

Lena didn’t expect any different. When she traced the previous address, it was in Canada. She presumed that it was just some amateur flexing their skills, but now she knows better.

She had set up the server’s firewalls beforehand so remote connections would only have access to the spam mail that was also being fed to her email sorter. They’re essentially getting nothing but trash.

Exploiting the IP address would be useless now, so she devises a plan instead, now that she knows that whoever’s hacking the CatCo server would eventually do it again: she cuts the connection, and when they try again, they’ll finally get what’s coming for them.

It’s something she developed a while back at a hackathon (she remembers the event distinctly, because Jack refused to join once he found out that she would be participating; she got him back for chickening out afterwards)—malware that could render all the files in a computer useless only within seconds.

She sets up her trap and goes home.

//

When Kara lands in the DEO, she’s greeted by a smug Winn.

“You can tell your friend to _ suck it_! I found a loophole back into the CatCo server!”

“I thought you were done with that!”

The smug smile on his face remains persistent. “Alex told me to keep monitoring Cat,” he shrugs. “But now that I have a connection again, I can finally look up info on your lady-friend.”

“I was working on getting to know her!” Kara points out, then emphasises: “The _ proper _ way!”

“Alex also told me you haven’t gotten the chance to talk to her, and that was a week ago.”

“Well I was _ working _ on it,” she grumbles.

“Whatever, now that you’re here, you can watch me hack into the CatCo database.”

“You mean _ invade people’s privacy_?”

Winn laughs, leans into her, and whispers, “Between you me, I don’t even monitor Cat’s emails. I just get it uploaded into our network so we have the logs.”

Kara looks at him incredulously. “Is that supposed to somehow make this _ better_?”

Winn waves a hand to dismiss her, twisting on his swivel chair to settle in his station again. “I know the CatCo architecture like the back of my hand, just a few more and—oh. _ What_?”

Kara perks up. “What?” She looks at his screen, but she’s never really grasped the intricacies of Earth computers. “What is it? What happened?”

“The connection got cut,” he says. “Lemme just establish it again.”

Kara raises a brow. “Are you sure that’s still a good idea?”

“Hey, _ you _ try to refuse orders from your sister.” He types a few things and as soon as he sees the connection back, he twists around his chair to send her a look and show off his work.

Kara is underwhelmed, to be honest. There’s nothing but several pop ups in his screen—and even more keeps coming in. “Is it even supposed to do that?”

“Do what—” Winn twists around to face his monitor again “—_gah!_”

Kara recoils a little at his reaction. Before she can ask what’s the matter, Winn launches himself under his desk, and only manages to yank off a cable right when the large monitor in the middle of the room all of a sudden seizes up in a series of repeated words:

_ All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. _

Winn shoots up from under the desk, his eyes wide at the screens. “Disconnect! Disconnect!” He races around the command center, shoving agents away from their work stations and jumping under their tables to yank off wires. Kara has never seen him move so quickly.

“_What is going on?_”

A loud voice booms throughout the floor.

Winn is still running around, telling everyone to “Disconnect! Pull the plugs!” when Alex stomps into the command center. She’s holding a tablet with the same display as the big monitors.

“Is _ anyone _ going to to tell me what’s happening right now?” she growls, looking at the confounded agents. Winn skids to a stop a few feet away from her, holding several laptops and severed cables. Alex sends him a deadly look. “_Schott_.”

“A-Agent Danvers…”

She takes a few steps towards him, face contorted in a vicious snarl. “_Explain_.”

Winn stumbles a few steps back. “Y-You see…” he stammers, pulling at his shirt’s collar.

“If you don’t spit it out in the next 5 seconds, I’ll walk over there and _ force _ it out of you.”

He visibly gulps. “Um… someone might have… exploited the connection between us and the CatCo server.”

There’s now a visible vein along Alex’s forehead, pulsing in anger. It’s a bit terrifying to look at. “And managed to infect our _ entire _ network?”

“I contained it before it spread everywhere… only the surveillance network really suffered.” He tries to smile, but it only comes out as a pained wince when Alex still seems both unimpressed and ready to kill (him, probably).

“_You _ said the DEO wasn’t _ compromised_.”

“It wasn’t!” he defends, then cowers when Alex manages to look even more vicious. “I mean—it didn’t look like an actively _ deliberate _ attack. The malware got immediately uploaded into our system the second I opened a connection, so it was more of a… security measure?”

One of Alex’s eyes twitches. “Are you telling me that a _ media company’s _ security measures are _ so _ advanced that it managed to infiltrate a _ government agency_?”

Kara takes offense at that. “Hey! I work there!”

Alex ignores her, continuing to eye a considerably paling Winn, who only mumbles, “…perhaps?”

Whatever Alex was planning to do next, Kara knows that it’ll traumatize him for life, so before the agent gets a chance to respond, she quickly butts in, “But he can fix it!” She walks over to her friend and throws an arm around him. “Right, Winn?”

Winn nods enthusiastically, a manic smile plastered on his face. “Yep! Totally! Easy peasy!”

Alex narrows her eyes, gaze never leaving Winn. “You have until tomorrow. And J’onn _ will _ be hearing about this.”

Winn shoots her a thumbs up, anxious smile and all. When Alex finally stalks off the command center, his legs sag from under him and he falls butt-first to the floor. “Oh my god, I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

Kara scrunches up her face. “You’re still not quite off the hook yet.”

He whips his head up, looking at her. “You gotta help me.”

“What, no way! I’m not gonna _ aid _ you in violating my co-workers’ privacies! Besides, I _ already _ helped you. I got Alex off your back just now.”

“No, not with that! You gotta help me get me in touch with your lady-friend.”

“_Lena_?” Kara sputters. “You can’t involve her in this! You can’t tell anyone about the DEO!”

“I’m not gonna _ tell _ her. I just gotta… sneakily get the info I need from her.”

“No. No way, I’m not hearing this.” She tries to walk away, but Winn manages to get on his knees and snag onto her cape.

She sort of drags him around for a few moments, pointedly ignoring his pleas of “Please, Kara! I don’t wanna die yet!” before she eventually finds the situation too ridiculous.

“Fine!” she relents, throwing her hands up. “But _ you _ are not going to talk to her. I am.”

Winn scoots up and throws his arms around her legs, saying, “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“You’re gonna me owe me _ so _ much potstickers for this,” she grumbles.

“I’ll buy you 3 orders next game night.”

He shoots up to his feet and goes to one of the few computers left uninfected. He fishes out a small flash drive from his pocket and plugs it in, taps and clicks a few buttons, and hands it to Kara. “All you gotta do is get the password to the server’s main console from her, and plug this in. It’ll automatically find the malware’s source code and fish it out.”

Kara sighs and accepts the flash drive after staring at it hesitantly. While somewhat excited to have a legitimate reason to talk to the rock-throwing woman again, she feels bad that it’s under pretenses. “You really think she’s just gonna tell me that?”

“If she doesn’t, check under the keyboard.”

//

Kara sees Lena again the next day. Bright and early, right next to her desk, like the last time. But now, instead of an offering of coffee, she’s armed with a paper bag labeled _ Noonan’s_.

(She made the right call, Kara thinks, because Lena’s holding a cup of that Thai bubble tea again. Which, Kara can’t even blame her for, she tried it a few nights ago and it’s _ amazing_.)

“Hi!” she says when she finally sees the woman approach her desk.

Lena looks entirely caught off-guard, and Kara hopes she isn’t crossing some crucial strangers-to-acquaintances boundary by showing up seemingly out of nowhere. “Good morning, Kara.”

She swallows down her nerves—_why is she even so nervous?_—and presents her offering. “Have you had breakfast?”

//

Lena doesn’t know what to make of it, doesn’t even know why she agreed, but the next thing she knows, they’re at an empty break room.

“I can’t believe you don’t eat breakfast!” Kara exclaims, looking absolutely horrified.

And she doesn’t know if she has to be sorry for it, because Kara really does look offended by the idea of Lena regularly skipping breakfast. “I like being early. It didn’t seem so important.”

Kara gasps. “Not important!? It’s literally—it’s the most important meal of the day!”

Lena at least goes through the effort of looking remorseful.

There’s an entire assortment in the paper bag the reporter brought, and she lays them all out on the table: two sticky buns, a cinnamon roll, a croissant, a slice of banana bread, a glazed donut, and a blueberry muffin. Lena looks at the spread of pastries in front of her with wide eyes. She doesn’t know whether she feels more surprised at the amount of food in front of her, or the fact that everything managed to fit in one paper bag.

“Is… is someone else joining us?”

“Hm? Oh, no, did you want to invite anyone?” Kara scrunches her eyebrows together, looking thoughtful.

“Um, no?” she hesitantly says. “It’s just… a lot of food.”

“Oh!” Kara looks at the spread in front of her, looking like she’s _ just _ noticing the sheer amount of food she just bought. “I—eat a lot!” And as if to demonstrate, she grabs one of the sticky buns and takes a large bite. Some of the syrup ends up on the corners of her mouth, and she brings her tongue out to lick it off.

Lena laughs at the display, oddly endeared by the entire thing. She leans over and—she _ was _ gonna go for the banana bread, but she makes a split second decision and grabs for the donut instead. She pinches off a piece and pops it in her mouth. She moans at the taste, because _ holy shit, this is good_. “My god, where did you get this?”

“Noonan’s!” she beams. “It’s right in front of our building, I can’t believe you missed it!”

“Well, I’m still going through the restaurants around my apartment building,” Lena says, taking a less dignified bite out of the donut. This is one of the things she _ loves _ about National City—the food. She can’t believe she’s been missing out on all the things in favor of foie gras and caviar.

“Then I’m glad I brought you breakfast!”

//

Kara can’t help but feel giddy—Lena looks like she’s really enjoying the food. She would’ve been content to just sit here and enjoy the rest of her breakfast, but she remembers that she’s here for a reason. “So, I haven’t actually seen you around before.”

Lena hums, mostly engrossed on the muffin she’s started on. “I moved here a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, where are you from?”

She tenses for a moment, Kara senses it, and she also catches the slight uptick of her heartbeat.

“You don’t have to tell me!” she backtracks. “I mean, if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for even asking in the first place!”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Lena mumbles. She shifts on her seat, starting to look uncomfortable, and _ god, Kara should’ve just kept her mouth shut_, because now Lena looks ready to bolt.

_ Change the subject. Change the subject. _

“Have you been to Chow Hong’s?” Kara blurts out. “Best potstickers in National City!”

“Potstickers?”

Kara gapes her. “What!?” she shouts, throwing her hands up. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had potstickers!” And, okay, she might be having a rather _ extreme _ reaction for such a trivial issue, but it’s an issue that needs to be remedied _ immediately_.

“No? What is it?”

“The best food on Earth! It’s like little bite-sized pockets of yummy!”

Lena giggles, starting to look relaxed again. “Best food on Earth, huh? That’s a brave thing to say.”

“Well it _ is_,” Kara says, entirely sure of herself.

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to see for myself.”

Kara beams, pleased. “Okay good,” she says. “Because I don’t think we can be friends when you’ve never had potstickers.”

She hears Lena’s heart rate crank up a bit again, but the woman doesn’t show any outward sign of discomfort or awkwardness other than the way she’s dipping her head down a little. “Oh,” Kara hears her say.

Afraid of making her uncomfortable again, Kara diverts. “Anyway, how’s CatCo treating you so far?”

“Good,” Lena answers, voice still a little small. Good thing Kara has super-hearing.

“Great!” She tries to salvage the conversation. “Ms. Grant can be a little eccentric, but she’s a nice person!”

Lena only hums in agreement. The woman shifts on her seat, and Kara can’t help but think that she’s somehow managed to say the wrong thing again. “Anyway, um,” Lena begins, looking anywhere but at her. “How much do I owe you?”

Kara recoils. “Nuh-uh! This is my treat!”

“Please, I insist.”

“No way!”

“Really, it’s fine—”

“Nope!”

Lena’s shoulders slump in defeat. Her hand’s still halfway in her purse, and she looks a little pained from where Kara can see her—and Kara’s _ so _ confused. She knows that she used to have trouble recognizing Earth’s social cues when she first arrived on the planet, but she’s doing fine now; she’s been called charming a lot of times, so how does she keep saying the wrong things when it comes to this woman?

“I’m sorry,” Kara blurts out.

Lena looks up at her and—_god_, she looks even _ more _ pained now. “W-What?”

“I’m sorry,” she says again. “I somehow keep saying the wrong stuff!”

“Wha—”

“And I keep making things awkward! Like, I’m already awkward as a person, but usually I’m fine when it comes to normal conversations!”

“No, Kara—”

“I just wanted to get to know you and—there _ is _ so much food! This isn’t the regular amount for two humans! You probably think I’m so _ weird_—”

“Kara!”

Kara stops. She feels a blush forming on her face—but it’s nothing compared to Lena; she’s _ already _ red-faced.

“You don’t have to—” Lena’s voice comes out all high and a little breathless, so she clears her throat. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Breakfast was lovely, but the company was even better. Thank you.”

Kara full on blushes. “Oh. You’re welcome.”

“And I _ am _ interested—I mean!” Lena backtracks so quickly, Kara’s eyebrows shoot up. “In being friends. I would like to be friends. With you.” She grows even redder, which Kara didn’t know was even possible. She shakes her head, then says, more seriously this time, “I’m sorry. I’m not used to this.”

“Used to what?”

She gestures vaguely. “Um, this?”

Kara looks confused.

“You know,” she says, still gesturing vaguely. “_This_.”

“The… desserts?”

“No,” she sighs, slumping in her seat. “I’m not used to—_friends_.”

Kara’s eyebrows travel up to her hairline at the admission.

“And you weren’t saying the wrong things. I just react badly. So _ I’m _ sorry for making things weird.”

Kara can’t help the sigh of relief that escapes her. So she _ hasn’t _ been screwing up this entire time. “Oh! I was starting to get worried. That’s okay! I wasn’t very good at it at first too.”

“_You _ weren’t?”

“Oh, yeah! Social cues here are so weird, you know?” Kara scoots her chair closer to the table. “Anyway, I totally get it. We’re fine!”

And—_gosh_—the little smile that Lena sends her way. Kara really likes it.

//

Lena’s plan of moving to National City goes like this: leave the Luthor name, start new.

For the past few weeks since she arrived, _ start new _ has been getting more and more meanings. At first, _ start new _ was just getting a new name. Then it became the second-hand bright blue Ford Fiesta she now drives daily. Then it means getting a new job, a new wardrobe, and a new apartment. It means trying out new food—chimichangas, street tacos, chili dogs, and a whole array of sandwiches. It means having to sign up for a regular gym membership because there’s no _ SoulCycle _ in National City. The elevator in her apartment building stops working, so _ start new _ suddenly also means living in property she didn’t own, incompetent landlord and all that.

So, yeah. It’s been an adjustment so far—the shift from multi-billionaire to not even a millionaire anymore will do that to you—but it’s also been so _ liberating_.

(She’s spent so long either under the shadow of the Luthor name, or chasing after it—never quite standing in its light. _ Because you’re not a Luthor. _ But she has to carry the burden of it, anyway.)

She doesn’t forget what she’s left behind. It’s still always there, looming at the back of her mind.

She thinks of Jack sometimes, of how they were going to change the world, of how Lena could’ve been content to spend the rest of her life with him; and she thinks of LuthorCorp even less, of how Lex pretty much _ gave _ it to her—_no more family, but here’s a Fortune 500 company_—of how she just gave it away, too.

She thinks of Lillian most of all. Lena doesn’t know if she’s proud or furious. Proud, because Lena’s managed to pull the rug from under her; or furious, for giving away the legacy of the Luthor family? Or maybe both?

(_You’re not a real Luthor_, she hears her say, all the time. And Lillian’s right. She’s not a Luthor, she’ll never be one, not anymore. She’s just proving her right.)

But now, in National City, where she’s Lena _ Kieran_, the person she would’ve been, _ should _ have been, she finally feels like she can breathe. This is what _ starting new _ feels like, Lena thinks, like the first breath of fresh air after having been drowning for so long.

//

Starting new also now apparently means eating breakfast with Kara Danvers. Or, rather, being _ friends _ with Kara Danvers.

The reporter fumbles her way through the meal—she does that a lot, Lena notices. She had to interrupt an impending ramble, something Lena also had to do the last time she encountered the reporter. It’s odd, she thinks. She used to hate bumbling idiots back in college, but Kara somehow makes it charming.

Lena’s familiar with the company of well-spoken crooks and heirs of the world’s largest corporations, so Kara’s inherent ability to stumble her way through conversations while simultaneously seeming genuine has her feeling a little flummoxed, a little intrigued, and a lot out of her depth.

So it’s not Lena’s fault that she sort of… accidentally lets out a little prattle of her own.

She half-wishes the ground to eat her up, because really, who says, “I am interested in being friends” like they’re responding to a business proposal email?

Kara seems unperturbed by the entire thing, thankfully. Actually, she seems _ excited _ by the idea, rattling on about how she needs to try potstickers (it’s such a peculiar name for food, it’s fitting that Kara loves it so much), telling her about all the hot restaurants in National City, and giving her an entire rundown of the food festivals happening for the rest of the year.

Kara also apparently has the number of all the food carts in the city. How she managed to collect _ all _ of them, Lena doesn’t know.

It’s when Kara says, “You should come to game night!” that has Lena feeling a little overwhelmed (the feeling’s long overdue, she should’ve felt overwhelmed the moment the reporter offered her breakfast).

“Game night?”

“Every Friday!” she says excitedly. “It’s a thing my friends and I do. We play all sorts of games, eat food, drink beer, stuff like that.”

“And… you want me to come.” Lena should say no, right? This is a little too much already, right?

“Yeah! And then you can come and meet everyone!”

Lena blinks, a little lost. She should say no. She _ means _ to say no—game nights with friends, it’s not her sort of thing. But Kara’s looking at her with big, bright, beaming eyes, and suddenly she’s saying, “I’d love to come.”

“Cool! If you give me your number, I’ll text you my address!”

_ Shit. _

//

Kara forgets to get the password.

(In her defense, how is she even supposed to approach the subject? You can’t just ask someone you’ve just met for very delicate, very sensitive information from their job!)

She calls Winn, because there is _ no _ way she’s risking the newly-formed, possibly-very-fragile friendship she finally has with Lena.

“Hey, Winn.”

_ “Kara!” _ he greets. _ “Did you get the password?” _

“Yeah, about that…”

_ “Oh no.” _

“I’m not gonna do it.”

_ “Why!? Alex is just giving me until today to fix this mess! And J’onn is threatening to transfer me to database administration!” _

“Okay first of all, it’s _ your _ fault for underestimating CatCo! Second, Lena’s delicate, okay? I don’t wanna use her.”

_ “But I’m delicate too! And Alex keeps glaring that I might actually go ahead ask J’onn to transfer me anyway.” _

Kara rolls her eyes. It’s not like Winn can see her, anyway. “I’ll handle Alex. Besides, I have good news!”

_ “Will it be better than Alex not disemboweling me before the day ends?” _

“I invited Lena to game night!”

There’s silence on the other line. Kara checks if the call got cut, but it hasn’t. “Winn?”

_ “You invited her to game night?” _

“Yeah? That’s what I just said.”

Kara hears Winn hum through the line. _ “Hm. Maybe I can try to get the password then.” _

“_Or _ you guys can get to know her and realize that she’s actually a _ good _ person. Then you wouldn’t have to hack into CatCo’s server anymore to get info on her! See, I totally thought this through!”

_ “Right. I still have to fix the mess the malware got us in though. I’ll try to tinker with what I have, see if I can make figure out a decryptor.” _

“Do what you have to do, but _ no more hacking into CatCo_, alright? I’m serious. I’ll talk to Alex about it.”

_ “Fine, fine. But can you do it soon, though? I just saw her glaring at me through a glass pane.” _

//

When Kara lands in the DEO at the end of the day, she’s a big ball of nerves. She’s planning to tell Alex about inviting Lena to game night, and she’s frankly unsure of how her sister’s going to react.

“Kara!” Winns calls her over. “I managed to fix the problem!”

“What problem?”

“The one your new friend so kindly left for us.”

Kara at least lets out a sigh of relief. Winn solving the DEO’s computer issues would hopefully alleviate some of the righteous rage her sister usually has.

“Turns out it just scrambles the first few kilobytes of each file, that’s why it managed to infect so much real quickly!”

She looks at Winn’s screen and, again, has no idea what’s going on because she never really dived into the complexities of Earth-standard computers. She’s handled a lot of alien technology, but she’s never gotten the hang of Earth’s technological interfaces.

“But I’ve never seen ransomware start infecting so fast though, it was near instant! The Stanley Kubrick quote was a nice touch, too, although I don’t really know the significance of _ The Shining _ with the structure or context of the code. It’s just cool.”

Kara pretends to understand; it’s important when Winn starts to ramble on like this. She hasn’t seen _ The Shining_, it’s a scary movie.

“Anyway, it’s sort of amazing how it managed to access so much files in such a short amount of time. I’m kinda excited to meet your new friend on Friday.”

Kara perks up at the mention of Friday. “Yeah! And she’s never had potstickers, either. So I’m buying some from Chow Hong’s so she can try them!”

“I thought I was buying the potstickers?”

“But you don’t buy the good ones. I want Lena to try the ones from Chow Hong’s.”

Winn raises his eyebrows. “Okay?”

When Alex finally walks into the command center, Kara turns her attention towards her. “Alex!”

Alex looks up from the tablet she’s been looking at. “Oh hey, I thought I heard you come in. How was work?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old.” She steps in beside her sister, who’s busy tapping away on the tablet. When a few moments pass between them, she starts again, “So, I have something to tell you.”

“Hm, what is it?”

“You know how you wanted to get info on Lena?”

“Oh yeah, did you get anything interesting?”

“Even better.”

Alex looks up from the tablet again, now eyeing her sister with more interest. “What is it?”

“I invited her to game night so you guys can get to know her!”

A few beats pass. “You…” Alex starts, looking entirely confused, “…invited her to game night.”

“Yeah!”

“After talking to her two times.”

“Three times if you also count the Infernian attack.”

“You were Supergirl then.”

“It still counts!”

Alex looks off to the side, looking bewildered. She shakes her head. “Okay, so you invited her to game night after talking to her three times.”

“Yep!” Kara preens. “You said you wanted to get info on her—which is weird, by the way, I really wish you’d stop doing that—this way, you guys can get to know her _ properly_, and she just moved into the city, I thought she could use a few friends.”

Alex blinks at her sister, at a loss for words, as she usually finds herself when Kara does something truly odd. “Okay,” she resolves. “I hope she likes red wine.”

Kara’s smiling giddily now, Alex’s reaction has been way better than she expected—she was prepared for vehement arguments, but maybe her sister’s in a good mood, too. She gives her a quick hug. “I’m sure she does! Anyway, I’ll go on patrol now. Thanks, Alex!” And with that, she speeds off.

She doesn’t see Alex and Winn exchange looks behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FOOD IS A LANGUAGE OF LOVE. I've never actually tried a chimichanga, but the concept of it really baffles me. Deep-fried burritos? That's wild.
> 
> Anyway, minimal amounts of research has gone into the more technical aspects of this fic. I make them up from the stuff I already know, so can I just call the mistakes artistic license? Also, thank you for all the lovely comments!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena is bad at feelings. Kara is stressed. They help each other out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big-ish chapter for some big happenings. Buckle up y'all, Roulette's here.

Lena knows a thing or two about having friends. Besides, Jack was her friend before they started dating. But it’s having someone like Kara Danvers as a friend that she isn’t used to.

Jack and her used to see each other everyday, but that was normal when you went to most of the same classes, then proceeded to work on a start-up together. But without that circumstance, is it normal to see a friend everyday? Did you have to take a few days in between? Should she just follow Kara’s lead?

Maybe she should just let Kara start their interactions. Besides, they made plans, right?

So, yeah, she avoids Kara the next day.

//

Okay, maybe  _ avoid _ is a strong term, but Lena does spend the entire day in the server room.

She hasn’t discovered any more hiccups in the security, and she thinks that she’s scared off whoever’s been messing with the CatCo server with the trick she pulled. (It’s not like virus she made is lethal, she mainly made it to mess with Jack, after all. She still won that hackathon though.)

It’s lunch time when Lena checks her phone.

**Kara Danvers [9:17 AM]:** hi!! good morning! hope you eat breakfast :)

**Kara Danvers [9:19 AM]:** i’m running a little late, i had a long night

**Kara Danvers [9:19 AM]:** a long night chasing stories!!!

_ Shit _ . Okay, three messages isn’t all that bad. She used to miss days’ worth of messages and calls when she gets busy in the lab. But is Kara the sort of person to get mad at that? Jack used to set her a quota of two days of disappearing without contact when she gets immersed in a project. A few hours’ late reply isn’t all that bad (relatively speaking).

**Lena Kieran [12:00 PM]: ** Hello, Kara. Sorry - got busy at work. Have a nice lunch.

The reply comes almost instantly.

**Kara Danvers [12:00 PM]:** have a nice lunch too!!!

Lena thinks that that’s that on their text conversation, so she sets her phone back on the desk and tries to finish off her patch on the server’s firewall before she goes down to get lunch. It proves to be a more challenging task, because before she knows it, almost an hour has passed.

There’s another text message from Kara when she goes to check the time on her phone.

It’s a picture of the reporter, likely taken by someone else, smiling into a big bowl of Phớ.

**Kara Danvers [12:08 PM]: ** lunch :) what are you having

When Kara said that she  _ eats a lot _ yesterday at breakfast, she really meant it. It’s probably the biggest bowl of Phớ Lena’s ever seen.

**Lena Kieran [12:52 PM]:** Wow, that’s a lot. Did you finish it?

As expected—the reply comes instantly. Lena just assumes Kara’s phone is always in her hand, or nearby. It must be a reporter thing.

**Kara Danvers [12:53 PM]:** of course i did!!! and i also had spring rolls! what did you have?

**Lena Kieran [12:54 PM]: ** I actually missed lunch. Got busy at work. It’s fine, I had breakfast.

It’s true. She did have breakfast. She got a veggie sub on her way to work from that vendor she found on her first day in the city.

**Kara Danvers [12:54 PM]: ** what! you gotta eat lunch, that’s important too!!

**Lena Kieran [12:54 PM]: ** I’ll just get a granola bar from the vending machine

**Kara Danvers [12:55 PM]: ** nonsense!!! i’ll get you something

Lena’s stomach lurches.  _ Is Kara serious? _ She types a quick reply.

**Lena Kieran [12:55 PM]:** No, you don’t have to do that

No instant reply comes, so she deduces that Kara is, in fact, serious. Are friends usually so insistent that you get complete meals all the time? She doesn’t really remember Jack being this stringent when it comes to food. It might be a Kara Danvers thing. She does have an enthusiasm when it comes to it.

She doesn’t know what to do in the minutes that follow. Does she go back to her desk to wait for Kara?

But she doesn’t have to figure it out any longer, because a few minutes later, someone knocks on the glass pane outside the server room. It’s Kara, brandishing a brown take-out bag.

“So this is where you slink off to when you’re not on your desk,” Kara says when Lena exits the room.

“Oh, um, yep.” Lena blushes. “How’d you even find me? I never told you I was here.”

“You said you got caught up in work. Since you weren’t at your desk, I figured you were down at IT.” Kara grins. “And I was right.”

“I’m surprised you even know where the IT department is.” Everyone’s been asking her.

“I used to be Ms. Grant’s assistant, so I’m supposed to know where everything is.”

That’s right, she was. Eve told her, and Cat often refers to a  _ Kiera _ . “Oh, right, Eve told me, and I hear Ms. Grant mention you a lot. I thought you were a Kiera before, though.”

“Well, that’s Ms. Grant.” Kara laughs. “What does she call you?”

Lena’s heart stutters in her throat, her mind flashed back to her conversation with the CEO. “Oh, you know,” she stammers. “A different name every time.” Okay— _ shit _ —she just lied. She doesn’t know why the thought bothers her; pretty much her entire existence in National City is a big lie. But Kara Danvers is apparently a friend now, and isn’t lying to friends normally frowned upon? She hopes Kara doesn’t notice.

It doesn’t seem like she does, because Kara’s suddenly jumping up and showing off the take-out bag she’s carrying. “I got you lunch!” she says, loudly. She’s brandishing the bag now, almost shaking it in front of her. “It’s pad thai. I always see you with that Thai bubble tea you like so much, so I assume it extends to the entire Thai cuisine.”

Lena takes the bag from her—partly because, okay, she is feeling a little hungry; and partly because it looks like the bag’s going to tear with the intensity that Kara’s shaking it with. She catches it from the bottom with one hand, her other hand making its way to her back pocket to grab for her wallet. “How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, no! This is my treat.”

She looks at her weird. “Kara, come on, you just bought me lunch.”

“Which I didn’t  _ have _ to do,” she points out. “Because I  _ wanted _ to do it.”

Lena’s a little at a loss for words, and very confused.  _ Why does Kara keep buying her food? _ “Please, I insist. You already got breakfast yesterday.”

“Again, I  _ wanted _ to do that.”

She’s a bit unnerved now. “But you can’t just keep—” she takes a deep breath, calming her nerves down. She has to remind herself that Kara hasn’t done anything inherently bad. “Please, Kara? I’ll feel guilty.”

There’s a moment where they sort of stand each other off, but it’s Kara who eventually relents. “Okay, fine,” she says. “It was, like, four dollars.”

Lena raises a brow in challenge. She knows it’s a lie. She recognizes the logo on the take-out bag, it’s from the Thai place near her apartment building—which was just a few blocks away from CatCo—and the pad thai there definitely didn’t cost four dollars.

Kara huffs. “Fine, it was actually ten dollars.”

Lena smirks, satisfied. She fishes for her wallet and hands Kara the bills. She hesitates for a moment after that, unsure of what to do next. What’s the proper protocol after a friend, who has already eaten, buys you lunch?

“Um, I don’t have anything to do for a while,” Kara says, cutting her thoughts off, “if you… wanted some company while you eat. I mean, it’s totally fine if you don’t! I just wanted to make sure you eat lunch.”

“Sure, I’d love some company.” Lena smiles. She’s surprised that she means it. She’s been blindsided by the reporter at every interaction—she’s odd, but endearing; she stumbles on her words  _ a lot _ , but she’s charming. If National City’s sunny disposition were ever personified, Lena’s sure it would be Kara Danvers.

The break rooms are empty since lunch has  _ technically _ just finished.

On their way there, Lena mentally prepares:  _ What topics should I tackle when I talk to her? What are some appropriate subjects to talk about when you’ve just met a week ago? We both work at CatCo—should I just ask her about work? She’s a reporter—maybe ask her about any articles she’s working on. _

“So…” Lena starts once they’ve seated and she’s broken apart her chopsticks. “What stories have you written?”

_ Fuck—crap—wait—doesn’t that just show that I don’t read the CatCo magazine myself? Shit, she’s gonna think I’m a horrible employee. _

Kara bolts up from her seat. “Oh! Um,” she says, “actually… You know the—when the president came here? For the alien amnesty.”

Okay, Lena  _ definitely _ remembers that. She flashes back to red and blue, but swallows it down. “Oh, yeah.”

“I wrote about the attack.”

And Lena doesn’t know how to react to  _ that _ . “Oh.”

“Yeah, with the alien and the fire, and everything…”

“Yeah, I know what happened…” She takes a deep breath. “I was, um, there.”

Kara’s silent for a while, which is  _ new _ , and a little alarming, so Lena looks up at her. She’s fiddling with her sleeves, biting on her bottom lip, and pretty much avoiding Lena’s eyes.

“Kara,” Lena calls. The reporter looks back up at her.

She sighs, then looks to brace herself before saying, “I was there too. I saw you. With the alien, and the rock.”

Lena pauses. “Oh.” She’s been saying that word a lot.

There’s a few beats of silence—Lena thinks it’s her call to break it, but she honestly doesn’t know how to go from here. This situation definitely doesn’t come in any friendship manual.

But the reporter, as excitable as she is, shifts the mood. “I think it’s pretty cool!”

“What?” Lena looks at her, flabbergasted. “You think it’s  _ cool _ ?”

“Yeah! You saved the president’s life!”

“I threw a  _ rock _ .”

“The rock that  _ saved _ the president’s life.”

Lena’s jaw drops for a moment. Is this really happening? Is she really being accused of saving the president’s life for throwing a rock? “It was an acute response. It was hardly rational.” She  _ needs _ Kara to understand this, because it seems like the entire thing’s blown out of proportion.

Kara shrugs away her comment. There’s a beaming smile on her face that’s sending Lena’s stomach sick in knots because it’s aimed at  _ her _ . “I think it’s brave! Everyone would have ran, but you stayed and helped, you know? You also saved that detective’s life! And I heard from a my source that you knew how to stop the alien!? How cool is that—”

One of the chopsticks in her hand snaps in half. She doesn’t even notice how tight her grip is on the utensils until she finally  _ can’t hear this _ anymore and she slams a hand down on the table harder than necessary. “ _ Kara! _ ”

Kara jumps in her seat and shuts up.

“I’m not—” she starts, but swallows thickly. “Is this why—” Lena feels one of the sharp edges of the splinters from where her chopsticks snapped dig into her closed palm, so she unclenches her fist and drops the pieces onto the table. “ _ Look _ ,” she starts again, “I don’t know what stunted view you have of me—”

Kara’s face twists in horror. “What, Lena—”

“But I am  _ not _ what you think I am. I’m not some  _ hero _ that saved the president’s life. So if all this is why you want to be— _ friends _ , then stop.”

Kara tries to backtrack, tries to salvage the unexpected turn the conversation took, but Lena’s already standing up.

“Thanks for lunch,” she tells her, voice stiff and avoiding Kara’s eyes. She walks out of the break room, leaving Kara alone with the untouched pad thai.

//

Something’s gone terribly wrong.

Maybe Kara came on a little too strong—she’s  _ passionate _ , alright?—she can be a touch too excitable at times. Or maybe she misinterpreted the entire thing, or played it up too much in her head. But Lena just  _ snapped _ , like she hated just hearing about it.

And Kara, for the life of her, doesn’t know  _ why _ .

_ “Supergirl, you got a minute?” _ her in-ear comm buzzes.  _ “I got an alien corpse here that needs identifying.” _

She could use the distraction.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

It turns out to not be much of a distraction—she arrives, and all she does is literally identify the alien. Alex and her new cop friend Maggie pretty much does all the work, but at least now she has a shiny new prospect for a story that could hopefully meet Snapper Carr’s high standards.

But when she goes and proposes it, all she gets back is, “That’s not a story, that’s a half-baked idea.”

So now all she has is an alien corpse, no leads, and definitely no idea on how to even begin baking the story.

She’s not having the best day.

//

Lena assumes she’s no longer invited to game night.

It’s alright. She moved to National City intent on getting a fresh start, and she  _ has _ been doing good so far in her life as Lena Kieran. She has an apartment and a job, and what else should a life be? Making friends was never part of the plan—she’s never really even thought about it.

Until Kara Danvers came barreling in.

But if she’s expecting her to be some brave hero for being at the right place and throwing a rock at the right time, then  _ no _ . Lena can’t be that person.

(She wants to laugh at her face, because of all the things, she sure as hell isn’t  _ brave _ , because who ran away the minute things fell apart again?

And she tries not to think of Lex—who was the only person worth saving, really—how she watched him descend into darkness, because she couldn’t help him, she couldn’t  _ save him _ .

So, yeah. Nothing could be further from the truth.)

She could stay stewing in her apartment the entire night, but some things don’t change. She needs a drink.

//

She goes inside a promising pub called  _ Fine Food & Spirits _ and finds that it’s filled with people in costumes.

_ Ah shit, is it Halloween? _

It doesn’t take her too long to regret going inside—if people are already  _ loud _ and  _ boisterous _ on a normal night out, they are even more so at Halloween. It doesn’t help that she also probably sticks out in the crowd, she’s one of the few not in costume, and she’s dressed like she just left the office. Which she did.

But no one turns their head around when she walks in, most of the attention is on a pair of guys doing a line of shots on the bar, so she feels a little encouraged to continue on.

She squeezes between the crowd and orders a whiskey neat. She asks for top shelf, and rolls her eyes when the bartender reaches for a bottle of Johnnie Walker. She accepts it anyway, and nurses the drink to the quieter corner of the pub.

Everyone’s there with company—mingling with their friends, exchanging stories, and laughing hysterically at inside jokes and anecdotes, and  _ god _ does Lena ache for that sort of companionship. Not that she’d ever admit it.

(It’s a fleeting thought—one that has come up very rarely throughout her life.

She’s seen it in movies and TV shows; having a tight-knit group of friends that she could hit up for drinks when she needed them. To have people to call whenever she did something. She had Jack back then, of course, but that was different. There were things she could never tell him, things he would never understand.

But she knows it’s all fiction, what she wants. But it still would’ve been nice.)

She startles when one of the pair of guys doing shots accidentally stumbles onto her table. “Woops,” he says. Lena looks at him, bewildered. He’s not quite standing straight, his legs are half-slanted and the only thing keeping him upright is the grip on the table. “D’you mind if I sit here?”

Lena looks around the pub, sees no other empty chair, and the guy is absolutely  _ hammered _ . Something tells her that he’d collapse to the floor if she refused. “Yeah, sure.”

He grins dopily and flops onto the chair in front of her. Lena doesn’t know what to do, and half wishes he passes out—he looks well on his way to, anyway. “M’name’s Winn,” he slurs. “Yours?”

“Lena.”

The guy closes his eyes and nods almost solemnly. “Mhmkay,” he mutters. Then his head tilts to the side and hits the wall with a subtle  _ thud _ .

A few moments pass, and Lena deduces that he’s passed out. She hopes that whoever he was doing shots with at the bar was someone he knew, because he’s well past fit to go home on his own, and Lena isn’t really in the mood to babysit a drunk stranger.

A loud grunt of pain emanates from the bar, and Lena whips her head up to look at the source.

Winn, or Finn, or whatever his name is suddenly sits up.

There’s a guy on the bar covered in toilet paper, looking at his horribly bent arm in horror, screaming in pain, and Lena shoots up to her feet.

The guy who she recognizes as the one Winn-or-Finn was doing shots with jumps back, looking entirely shocked. “That’s not… bending the right way,” he stammers, pointing at toilet paper guy’s possibly dislocated arm.

He’s still screaming in pain, and Lena sees him try to move the injured arm, so she snaps up, alert and rushes her way to him. “Hey, don’t move your arm!” she shouts, getting everyone at the bar’s attention. She pushes past the crowd, shoots a look at the bartender and barks, “Get some ice and call 911!”

Thankfully the bartender complies.

She makes her way in front of the toilet paper guy. “I’m licensed in First Aid, I don’t have my certificate to verify that right now, so you’re gonna have to—”

A man wearing a wolf mask barrels into the area. Even though she can’t see his face, there’s a certain tone of rage in his steps. “You!” he shouts, getting Winn-or-Finn’s shot buddy’s attention. Before the guy can react, and before Lena can even tell him to stop, wolf-man swings his arm back and decks him across the face—

And retracts his arm back to hold his fist with his own scream of pain.

Lena whips her head towards the other guy, who doesn’t even look as much as  _ affected _ by the punch. “Uh…” he mutters.

Winn-or-Finn rushes into the scene. “Time to go!” he chirps, more awake than he was a few minutes ago, and pushes his friend out of the bar before anyone else can react.

_ What the fuck? _

//

When all is said and done, with the two bar-goer’s injuries iced and stabilized to the best of Lena’s minimal First Aid training goes, the ambulance arrives. She gives them a short report on the injuries and makes her way back into the bar.

She waves the bartender down. “How much do I owe you for my drink?”

The bartender is having nothing of what she’s saying. “Hell no you’re not paying. Everything you order tonight’s on the house. Whiskey neat, right? Want another?”

Lena blinks, caught a little off-guard. “Oh, no, I’m actually heading out.”

“Alright. Just call me if you change your mind, yeah?”

She nods, and he leaves to entertain another customer. Lena contemplates if she should get another drink, but her day’s been crazy enough as it is already, so she gets up and leaves.

She’s just exited the bar and is about to turn to the direction of the apartment when she hears someone say, “Oh, you again.”

Lena looks towards the voice. “Detective Sawyer.”

“Ms. Kieran.”

“Are you here about the bar brawl?”

Maggie smiles. “Yep,” she says. “I’m pretty much the go-to for any possible alien-related violence in the city.”

Lena scoffs. “ _ Alien? _ ” she asks incredulously. “It was just a regular bar brawl, I assure you.”

“Do you have a minute to talk about it?”

For a moment, Lena’s about to decline. But could it really be  _ aliens _ ? The man from the bar didn’t look like an alien.

(But some aliens still look like people.)

“Of course,” she says.

Maggie looks mildly surprised, probably half-expected her to decline. “Could you give me a run down of the incident from where you saw it?”

“I was having a drink. I heard someone shout, saw a bent arm, and as someone formally trained in First Aid, I helped as much as I could.”

“There was another injured.”

“Oh, yeah the one with the mask. He punched another guy. I iced his fist before the ambulance arrived.”

“This guy he punched, what did he look like?”

“Six feet tall maybe, Caucasian, brown hair—wait, is  _ he _ the alien?” Lena remembers him not so much as even flinching when he got punched. Was it invulnerability, like Supergirl? Is there another Super in town?

Maggie hums, scribbling something in her notepad. “Did he provoke the attack?”

“No, no. Was he the alien?”

“Was he with anyone else, any friends?”

“One. Another guy, a little shorter. His name is Winn, or Finn, I don’t really remember. He was passed out for most of the incident.”

Maggie a few final notes into her notepad. “Alright, thanks for your time, Ms. Kieran.”

Lena sighs. She pretty much accepts that she’s not getting any answer from the detective. “It’s no problem, detective.” She’s about to leave again when the detective stops her,

“Hey, Lena.”

She turns back to look at Maggie.

“Could you maybe keep this on the down low?”

Lena pauses, a little surprised by the request, but nods anyway. “Of course.” There’s something odd about the way the detective asked her.

“Alright, thanks,” Maggie says. “I’d say see you around, but I have a feeling that we’ll see each other again soon.”

When Lena smiles, it’s genuine. “Have a good night, detective.”

//

Maggie waits for Lena to walk out of sight before calling Alex.

There’s something  _ different _ about Lena Kieran that Maggie can’t quite place. There’s a grace to her movements that isn’t there for most people, her posture is  _ great _ —she walks with her back straight and chin up, and her accent definitely isn’t local. But before she can think anymore about it, Alex picks up the phone.

_ “Danvers.” _

There’s a little flutter in her stomach that she quells down. “Hey, it’s Sawyer.”

_ “Oh, hey, what’s up?” _

“I had reports of an alien in a bar brawl in the city.”

_ “You think it’s related to the murdered Syvilian?” _

“Not really, no. But it sounded like one of yours, so I checked it out. Do you know anyone named Winn or Finn?”

_ “What the f—” _ There’s a loud clatter in the background.  _ “What did you hear?” _

“One six foot alien, and a companion named Winn or Finn.”

_ “Fuck, I am going to  _ castrate _ him.” _

Maggie snorts. There’s something amusing and, well, a little  _ hot _ about Danvers getting angry. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it doesn’t escalate.”

_ “Were there any witnesses?” _

“I mean, it was a bar brawl, there were a lot of witnesses. No one to worry about though, mostly just kids out partying for Halloween.”

_ “Alright, good.” _

“Although there is one person. Lena Kieran—the woman from the Infernian attack on the president. She was at the bar when it happened, saw the whole thing. She performed some First Aid on the injured. She’s who I got the description from, everyone else was too hammered.”

_ “Shit. Did she seem suspicious?” _

“She suspects that one of your guys were alien.”

_ “Damn it. Fine, it’s fine, we’ve been keeping an eye on her since the Infernian attack. Anyway, I got the information on our alien perp—he’s a Brevakk. I got his address here, wanna check it out?” _

Maggie grins. “Send me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

//

It’s an underground alien fight club, because  _ of course it is _ . It can’t just be a normal homicide, because this is National City, of course there’s some secret rich-people society that gathers every night to see aliens fight each other.

She can’t even fault Snapper for not believing it at first.

Because even  _ she _ can’t believe it.

What’s even worse is that the aliens seem to  _ like _ it; being used for entertainment while they’re pitted against each other, hailing this Veronica Sinclair as some kind of  _ savior _ , all for some cash, or to pay off debts.

And what Kara hates the most is that she actually  _ understands _ their point of views. Even with the alien amnesty, aliens are still ridiculed and looked down upon by humans, but the fight club gives them the means to feel like they’re on top, to feel like they’re here for  _ something _ . Nevermind if they’re being exploited for what they are.

It  _ also _ doesn’t help that apparently Winn took Mon-El to a bar and caused some scene—and J’onn’s right, even with his misplaced outburst—humans are always going to be wary of aliens on Earth, and all it has to take is  _ one _ of them to screw up for the entire conversation of alien rights to get scrapped.

It’s unfair, Kara can see that, she  _ knows _ that, but she also got the easy out out of it because she’s Supergirl, National City’s Kryptonian sweetheart; and when she’s not, she’s Kara Danvers, CatCo’s cub reporter. She was taken in by a family who’s taught her how to fit in when she arrived on Earth, while most aliens come here without even speaking the language. How does she expect humans to open up to aliens when even  _ Supergirl _ —one of the most well-received aliens on Earth, second only to Superman—has to moonlight as a human on her day-to-day life? She’s privileged—she  _ looks _ like a human, but what about those that don’t?

Now Veronica Sinclair’s taking advantage of the still very flawed system, and she’s getting away with it with  _ J’onn _ —one of the only people who she can so closely relate to, in both her alien roots and human side. All she wants to do now is  _ save him _ but she doesn’t know how to do that either because the stupid fight club managed to disappear without a single  _ trace _ .

So yeah, she can’t be blamed when she accidentally destroys the coffee machine in the top floor break room.

She doesn’t even want to be in the office right now, but Snapper’s been ringing her and Alex pretty much banished her from the DEO.

(“Look, we can’t concentrate on finding J’onn with your stomping around and constantly ringing phone so will you  _ please _ go to your job? You can get here within seconds and we’ll call you when we find something.”)

“Kara?”

Kara whips around at the voice. Lena’s standing at the doorway, eyeing the broken coffee machine—and it’s like a sucker punch, because  _ oh yeah, things weren’t doing good with her either. _

“Did you break that?”

She looks at the coffee pot handle in her hands—just the handle, the rest of the pot is shattered. “I’ll, um, replace it.” There’s a puddle of coffee in front of her. “I’ll also clean this up.”

“I can call the cleaning lady,” Lena offers. “I saw her on the way here.”

“Yeah, that’d be, um, good.”

Lena turns and walks out of sight. A few moments later, she arrives with Irene, the cleaning lady. Good thing Kara brings her snacks sometimes; she doesn’t seem so bothered to clean up her mess.

Lena’s still there when Irene finishes cleaning up, and all Kara can do is stand sheepishly off to the side. She really has nothing to do—both in her Supergirl job or her reporter job, because all she’s been working on is that underground alien fight club, and she has no leads at all.

“Are you alright?” Lena asks suddenly.

Kara looks up in surprise. “Um, yeah, why?”

“I saw you storm out of Snapper’s office, and, well.” She gestures at where the coffee machine used to be.

“Oh.” Kara pauses, then says, “I’m fine.”

Lena looks unconvinced, but doesn’t push her any further. “About the other day, at lunch. I’m sorry for snapping at you. It was uncalled for. I had some personal issues and I let it out on you, which is unfair, so I’m sorry.”

Kara’s caught off-guard, because she wasn’t expecting an  _ apology _ of all things from Lena, she thought  _ she _ was the one that somehow screwed up. But it does make her feel a touch lighter, and the  _ personal issues _ explains the outburst. “It’s okay. And you can tell me things, you know? About whatever’s bothering you. It’s what friends do.”

Lena dips her head down, and when she looks back at Kara, she’s worrying her bottom lip. “You can, too,” she says, “I mean, you can tell me what’s bothering you too. If you want to. You don’t have to, though.”

And Kara  _ softens _ . “I don’t really know where to start.”

“How about from the beginning?” Lena looks to think. ”Wait no, how about… why did you storm out of Snapper Carr’s office just now?”

“I think it’s more my fault than his, to be honest,” she sighs. She leans back against one of the counters. “I don’t think I’m cut out for reporting.”

“How so?”

“Because I’m no good at it?” Kara laughs, but it’s empty and pitiful, to be honest. “He asked me for a follow up on the article I proposed, and I have nothing.”

“Did you follow up on your sources too?”

“Yeah, I did. But the police is pretty much at a loss, too.”

“The  _ police _ ? Then you’re not a bad reporter, you’re just at a stalemate. What can you do if the authorities don’t know how to go forward either?”

“I don’t know,  _ more _ , I guess?”

“It’s not really your job to  _ do more _ . How about another story?”

Kara groans. “I  _ can’t _ .” She buries her face in her hands and hunches down.

Lena’s quiet for a while, before she seems to realize what’s going on. “There’s more to the story, isn’t there?”

Kara nods meekly.

“What is it? Personal stakes?”

Kara looks up from her hands, then around the break room. Even though it’s empty at the moment, she scoots closer to Lena so they can have some semblance of privacy. “A friend of mine got involved in something shady,” she explains, “like, underground fight club sort of shady.”

“You’re writing about an  _ underground fight club _ ? What kind of friend is this?”

“He’s… special.”

Lena’s face twists in confusion. “So a  _ special _ friend.”

There’s a suggestive tone in her voice, and Kara cringes. “ _ No,  _ not like that,” she denies—because  _ ew _ . “He’s an… alien. It’s an underground alien fight club.”

Lena’s eyebrows shoot up.

“It’s being arranged by this woman named Veronica Sinclair, and her target market is National City’s high and mighty. But the fight club sort of moves around, I guess, because when my friend disappeared and I went to the old venue, the place was wiped clean. Like it was never there.”

“Wait, you went there  _ yourself _ ?”

Kara realizes what she’s just said, and, well  _ oops _ . “Yeah, but it’s fine though, no one was there.”

“But what if there  _ was _ ?”

Kara waves a hand and tries to shrug it off. “Supergirl will save me.”

Lena’s jaw drops. “ _ Supergirl will save you _ ,” she repeats, sounding baffled.

“Yeah, of course.” It’s a  _ stupid _ thing to say, Kara knows this. But she just blurted out the first thing she thought of and now she has to roll with it.

“That’s a lot of trust to put in one person.”

“Well, she  _ is _ a superhero.”

The woman’s jaw drops down even further, and Kara might make the entire situation worse if she keeps on talking, so she has to make an escape  _ fast _ . “Anyway, um,” she says, “I gotta go and follow up on some of my other leads, see what I can find. I’ll see you later, alright?”

Lena watches her straighten herself up, and she’s about to race out of the room when the other woman grabs onto her arm.

“Hey, um,” Lena starts, looking a little conflicted. “Be careful, okay? I know I can’t tell you what to do, but don’t charge into trouble on your own. If you’re so sure that Supergirl’s coming, then wait for her.”

Kara’s eyes widen in mild surprise, and Lena drops her arm. A slurry of feelings wash over her, and she finds her face feeling a bit warmer than usual. Gosh, Lena’s  _ concerned _ about her and it’s sending an odd flutter in her stomach that she can’t quite place just yet, so she does the only rational thing she can think of—she hugs her.

“Gosh, I’m so glad we’re okay now,” she murmurs. It’s a good hug (Lena smells really nice), even though Lena’s a little stiff, but her arms eventually find their way around her, albeit it being a little loose and a little awkward.

Kara lets go of her before she decides to off-handedly nuzzle her face into the woman’s neck, because Kara’s touchy like that. Lena takes an aggressive step back when she lets go, her face is beet-red. Kara has the urge to hug her again, but stops herself because Lena might already find it too much.

“Sorry about that,” Kara apologizes, though she’s smiling.

“It’s fine,” Lena wheezes.

“Anyway, I’ll, um, go now,” she says. Because she really does need to go. Because she might do something stupid again.

“Right, right.”

“I’ll see you, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll see you.”

Kara’s still smiling when she turns to skip out of the room, chest feeling lighter than it’s ever been in the past few days.

//

She doesn’t know what possesses her to follow Kara into the break room after she storms out of Snapper Carr’s office. She understands that the guy can be downright unpleasant, but she’s never seen the reporter look so off-balanced and  _ angry _ , and Lena feels the unbidden tendrils of concern wrap around her stomach.

It’s obvious that Kara’s troubled, even though she denies it. The shattered remains of the coffee machine pretty much confirms it for Lena. Seeing the normally sunny and bubbly reporter look so untethered sends a stab down her chest because it looks so  _ wrong _ .

So she apologizes.

Her snapping at Kara has nothing to do with the reporter, and if Lena can lift even the smallest burden off her right now, she would. So she apologizes.

And it feels good when she says it—it feels good when Kara  _ hears _ her, and while she’s not yet ready to tell Kara, or anyone,  _ everything _ , her offer to listen feels like one day she would be (because before this, she never would have been ready, never would have even considered it).

//

The name  _ Veronica Sinclair _ catches her off-guard, though.

And finding out that Kara Danvers—the sweet, charming Kara Danvers—stormed into what could have been an underground  _ alien _ fight club arranged by her infamous boarding school classmate  _ alone _ ,  _ unarmed _ , and  _ defenseless _ almost sends her into a stroke. And the reporter’s unmoored admiration and possibly borderline hero-worship for Supergirl is isn’t alleviating that concern.

(Lena represses the memory of the hug—for now. She’ll get back to that later, because,  _ shit, what the fuck, when was the last time someone hugged me again? _ And also because her new friend possibly has no sense of self-preservation so she has to set that aside to handle things.)

For some reason it doesn’t quite surprise her that Roulette would exploit the delicate beginnings of the alien community in National City.

She did the same in Metropolis.

Although it has a significantly smaller alien population, Metropolis was still a hub for the wealthy. Roulette would go about her business there, setting up venues of niche entertainment, targeting the one-percenters in wealth and power.

She knows this because Lex used to be a frequent goer. Building up his alien database was just a bonus from the sadistic pleasure he got from watching aliens kill each other. She only discovers this, of course, after going through his bank statements after his arrest. He spent  _ millions _ just betting on which species would kill which.

She wondered before, how he even knew of the events, then discovered some demented newsletter for the rich and powerful arrive in his inbox.

(It was surreal discovering  _ that _ for sure—it was what solidified her decision to move—finding out that her brother, the only family she had left, was all sorts the disgusting and vile person everyone has been saying he is.)

It’s a stretch to act on that thin assumption—that Lex’s untouched email would still be receiving that newsletter. But she found out about it when it arrived  _ after _ his prosecution, so the assumption isn’t  _ that _ unfounded.

But it’d still be a risk—Lex’s email is being hosted by LuthorCorp’s servers—a keystroke out of place and she’d be pinging her location. She has to divert attention in case that happens, has to orchestrate something else to make it seem like  _ that’s _ the main target of the attack, not Lex’s emails.

And she knows just what to do.

//

It’s been  _ hours _ since they last heard from J’onn, and Kara’s back to pacing in the DEO.

She’s on her, possibly, twenty-seventh round of the command center when her phone vibrates in her pocket. She scrambles to reach for it, but it’s only an email. From the weirdest email address she’s ever seen.

“Hey, Winn.”

“Yo?”

“Could you take a look at this?” She walks over to him and hands him her phone. “I got an email, but the return address is really weird.”

Winn looks over her phone, and his eyebrows shoot up. “Huh. It’s from an onion email provider.”

“What’s that?”

“It means that it’s pretty much untrackable. People use onion emails a lot on the dark web.”

Kara hums, eyebrows scrunched. “Should I open it?”

“Uh, maybe open it up on a virtual machine. You don’t know what’s in it. Here, I’ll launch mine and you can log in.”

Winn does just that, and Kara logs in her email.

“There’s no subject or body, just a PDF attachment,” Winn says. “It—” He leans into the monitor. “Holy shit. The filename mentions LuthorCorp.”

“What!?” Kara pushes him away so she can see.

** _PROJ_V101016_LUTHORCORP.PDF_ **

“Should we open it?” she asks. “Do you think it’s dangerous?”

“It shouldn’t affect us if it’s some kind of virus, that’s what the virtual machine’s for.”

“Okay, open it.”

Winn double clicks on the attachment—and the tension and anticipation while it loads is almost unendurable. And when it finally opens—

“Oh my god,” Kara gasps, “it’s the blueprint for the Venture’s oscillator.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am a bit partial as to where I ended this chapter, not gonna lie. But my goal was to contain and resolve the light angst in this one chapter, so I think it's fine? And if anyone's worried, Mon-El is going to be more of a pedestrian in this than a roadblock. So that's that on that.
> 
> I also realized I never told you guys that the title of this fic came from Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Go listen to it!
> 
> Plus, I made a [a dark mode skin](https://pastebin.com/NcH1DNN2) for AO3 because Reversi wasn't dark enough for me. Thought I'd share it if anyone's into that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara suspects something. Lena goes to game night and formally meets everyone.

Alex paces in front of her.

“Walk me through it again.”

Kara sighs. It’s about the third time she’s repeated this. “I got an email from an untraceable address with LuthorCorp’s blueprints for the Venture’s oscillator at the same time the NCPD got an anonymous tip on the location of the alien fight club.”

“And this is related, how?”

“I don’t _know_ if it’s related, I just think it’s a little fishy. Someone breaches one of the largest corporations in the world just when the police receives an anonymous tip to bust an event that exclusively caters to the rich and powerful. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“How much thought have you put into this?”

Kara huffs. Is she seriously being interrogated right now? “Not much? We literally just got back from getting J’onn. It’s just an inkling.”

Alex stops pacing, her arms dropping to her sides. “You’re right. Sorry. Just got a little concerned that the email was sent to you—and, well, it’s LuthorCorp, you know?”

And Kara gets it. She really does. But she’s also tired and wants to lie down and eat ice cream. She’s had a long few days. “I know.”

“What are you planning to do with the blueprints?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t really gotten the chance to think about it.”

There’s something nagging in Kara’s brain—like maybe she’s on the cusp of something, or maybe she isn’t seeing something that’s supposed to be right in front of her. She can’t quite put her finger on it.

“Can you tell me first before you do anything?” Alex asks. “I just wanna be ready.”

“Yeah, of course.”

//

The first time Lena opens a CatCo magazine, it’s to read Kara Danvers’ article on the underground alien fight club.

She buys it on her way to work, snags it off the newsstand right outside her apartment building. She thumbs through most of the magazine until she lands on the article she’s looking for.

_ UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB ABUSES NATIONAL CITY’S ALIEN POPULATION _

_ Written By Kara Danvers _

She can’t help the smile when she sees Kara’s name on the byline.

The story is good. It’s compelling, intriguing, and with the rise of alien amnesty, incredibly important.

Kara’s passion is glaringly obvious with the way it’s written—she uses strong words like _brutal_, _insane_, and _cruel_, but most of all, she presents the aliens in a light that most people wouldn’t see them in; victimized. It’s a view that paints them sympathetically, and a brave perspective to voice out in times like this; while public opinion is still wary at best. And Lena can’t help but admire the reporter’s determination when it comes to it.

Lena notices the contrast with the way Kara talks to the way she writes almost immediately. While she stumbles with the simplest words during their conversations; her written ones are sharp, unfaltering, and concise—it’s _selection rather than compression_—she doesn’t waste time on unnecessary details and dives straight to the hard facts of the story.

She’s isn’t a bad reporter. Not at all.

_ She’s pretty good _ , Lena thinks,  _better than I expected._

And there’s even a quote from Supergirl, which is—_huh_—surprising, to say the least. The reporter’s loyalty and trust in the superhero suddenly makes sense. Maybe National City’s resident Super has her own Lois Lane.

There’s a small tidbit that Lena looks for when she flips through the rest of the magazine, and she’s turned through all the pages twice already when she gives up.

(Her assumption that Lex’s email would still be receiving the exclusive newsletter had been right.

Getting into LuthorCorp’s servers was easier than she thought—she _has_ helped reinforce its security, so she already knew all the knicks she could exploit. She could have been done without having to execute her plan to divert attention from her real goal, but she’s struck with a sudden, but very valid concern:

What’s to stop Kara from storming head-first into the battlefield herself? She’s already done it once. Who’s to say she won’t do it again when word of the anonymous tip she’s planning to send to the NCPD reaches her?

So, yeah, maybe leaking the blueprints for the Venture’s oscillation had been more to distract the reporter than LuthorCorp’s security ream.

And giving Kara potential material for a new article was just a bonus.)

(_That’s, like, not nefarious at all, right?_)

But there’s no mention of the Venture or its oscillator or LuthorCorp anywhere in the magazine.

_ Did I send it to the right email address? _

Lena’s sure that she did. She wouldn’t get something like an email address wrong. But she can check, just to be sure. She sent it to the reporter’s CatCo email, which just so happens to be hosted in the CatCo server, which Lena has unrestricted access to.

She doesn’t bother to go to her desk when she arrives at CatCo, and instead goes straight to the server room. Which proved to be the wrong decision, because she gets a text:

** Kara Danvers [8:38 AM]: ** good morning! i’m at your desk but you’re not yet here but i just wanted to let you know that i have breakfast for when you arrive at the office :D

So she pivots and walks straight back to the elevators while she types up her reply and—

“_Oof_—”

“Oh—!”

Before she knows what’s going on, she’s falling, and Lena expects to hit the floor, but a hand reaches out to pull her back up—her feet still hasn’t regained its balance and she finds herself stumbling straight into Kara.

Kara doesn’t budge once, even when Lena unceremoniously smacks into her chest.

“Why is this happening again!” she hears Kara exclaim. Lena’s still a little thrown from the whiplash. “I’m so sorry, I was just about to text you that I was on the way here!”

It takes Lena a few more seconds to reclaim her senses. She blindly reaches a hand out and and pushes herself up on Kara’s shoulders. She teeters when she gets on her feet, and one of Kara’s arms reaches out to catch her by the small of her back.

“_Woah_,” is the first thing that comes out of Lena’s mouth. She’s still a little dazed and out of sorts—running into Kara really does feel like running into a wall. Except the wall is wearing a really soft sweater and probably uses a vanilla body wash.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks, bringing her head closer to inspect Lena’s face. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“I’m fine,” Lena says, a lot more composed now after getting the chance to catch her breath. “You just literally knocked my breath away.”

Kara’s eyes widen for a moment and her face flushes, her head recoiling a bit.

Lena gives the reporter’s arms a squeeze. “You’re built like a truck. Didn’t even budge when I ran straight into you.”

“Uh—”

“Anyway,” Lena says, taking a hurried step back. “Good morning, Kara.”

Kara seems to blink torpidly for a moment before regaining her composure with a quick shake of her head. She smiles her trademark smile. “Good morning!”

Lena can’t stop the curl of her lips—the reporter’s grin is just infectious. “I read your article on the fight club. It was really good,” she tells her.

“Yeah? You think so?”

“Of course. You’re not a bad reporter at all.”

She’s probably the best reporter at CatCo right now—yes, Snapper Carr, who has literally won a Pulitzer, is on the list, but his recent stories don’t have quite the relevant impact anymore; and Cat Grant has been too busy running a media empire to write articles—and while she’s only read the one issue, the rest of the articles she’s thumbed through were fluff pieces at best.

The look Kara gives her is positively beaming, her eyes crinkling with the intensity of her smile. “Thanks,” she whispers, almost wistfully. Kara raises her arms—to hug her, probably—but she catches herself and brings her hands together instead.

Lena wouldn’t have minded the hug.

“Um, breakfast?” Kara says, instead raising the paper bag she was carrying to show her.

“Sure,” Lena smiles.

//

No matter what break room they go to, it’s always empty, Lena notices.

“Does no one here take breaks?” Lena asks. “The break rooms are always empty whenever we go inside one.”

“Oh,” Kara says, looking around as if just noticing how there’s no one in there with them. “I guess people just prefer to eat outside the office. And there’s a balcony on every floor with tables, so maybe that’s where everyone is.”

They pick whatever table and sit down.

“I know it’s not really a breakfast food,” Kara says, pulling out foiled packages out of the bag, “but there’s this new Italian place that opened up and I smelled them when I walked by and I couldn’t resist the calzones.”

“Calzones sound perfect.”

Kara pulls out five calzones. Which shouldn’t really surprise Lena, but she decides that she’ll eventually get used to how much the blonde can eat. And still somehow manage to stay in shape. “I decided to get one of each flavor they had,” the reporter explains, pointing at each foiled package when she recites the flavors, “Classic pepperoni, meat lovers, ham and cheese, cheesy sausage, and a vegan one.”

She reaches for the vegan calzone and she pretends to not see Kara scrunch her nose up in apparent disapproval when she does. (_She mentally starts a list of Kara’s Likes & Dislikes. Potstickers are on the top of her likes. She adds vegan food to dislikes._) “Tell me about your article,” she starts.

The reporter perks up. “Oh! My friend’s okay! They managed to get the fight club’s location and free the aliens. I mean, you know that, you read the article.”

“That’s good to hear. Were you there when they stormed the place?”

“Nope.”

Lena almost sags in relief. It doesn’t matter if she did mistype the reporter’s email address to send the blueprints, then. She was probably sufficiently distracted at the time.

“But something else happened though,” Kara continues, “I got a weird email.”

Lena heart jumps, but she masks it by clearing her throat. Okay, so she _did_ send it to the right email address. “Oh?”

“Yep,” Kara answers. “From the weirdest email address, too. I had a friend who’s really good with computers check it out, he says it’s pretty untraceable.”

It is untraceable. Lena made sure of that. “I see,” she says.

“Hey, you’re pretty good with computers too, right?”

“You could say that.”

Kara digs into her pocket and pulls out her phone. She swipes up her screen and turns it to Lena. It’s the email she sent. No subject, no body, just the one attachment. “What do you think?” the reporter asks.

Lena makes the display of pulling on the phone to bring it closer and squinting at the screen. “Yep,” she says once she’s looked at it for a few seconds. “Email addresses like those are pretty hard to trace.”

Kara hums and pockets her phone. Something in her look suggests that she didn’t really expect any other answer. “It would make sense that whoever sent it wouldn’t want to be found. It’s blueprints on the Venture’s oscillator,” she explains. But Lena already knows this. “The one LuthorCorp manufactured.”

The mention of LuthorCorp sends her stomach churning. “Really?”

The reporter nods, then takes a bite out her meat lovers calzone. “What I wonder is _why now_? It’s been, like, a month since the Venture exploded. I wasn’t even a reporter back then, so why send it to _me_?”

Lena pauses at the last thing. She obviously did not think this through. “You weren’t?”

“Nope,” she answers. “I only became a reporter after that.”

_ Fuck. _ “Oh.”

“The timing was really weird, too,” Kara continues, ripping a few strips off her calzone’s foil wrapping to reach the food better. “It was sent, like, at the _same time_ the NCPD got their anonymous tip.”

Are Lena’s hands a little clammy? Maybe. “Yeah, that is weird.”

Kara doesn’t say anymore after that—which should be a relief, but it makes Lena more uneasy as the pause in their conversation stretches out, with Kara nibbling and being just generally preoccupied with her calzone. Lena tries to match it, being the picture of calm and unassuming when she takes a casual sip of her drink.

A few beats pass, then, “Anyway,” the reporter says suddenly. “You’re still coming to game night later, right?”

And Lena knows that she can’t refuse now. “Of course.”

//

You could say that Kara had a _hunch_.

Here’s the thing: the email arrived at the same time the anonymous tip came in at the NCPD. Was that enough to go on? Some would say no. Maybe it _is_ a coincidence. If the email was sent to anybody else, Kara would’ve played it off as a coincidence. But she wasn’t even a reporter when the Venture exploded.

So, naturally, Kara tried to connect the dots, tried to see anything that might join all the facts together.

The email of the leaked blueprints for the Venture’s oscillator was sent to _her_.

It was sent to her at the same time the NCPD got their anonymous tip for the underground alien fight club (less than five minutes apart—she checked).

And the only reporter investigating the underground alien fight club was _her_.

At first she thought that maybe it was a Supergirl thing. But that didn’t make sense the longer she thought about it. Whatever it was connecting the email and the fight club, it was her—as in Kara Danvers, mild-mannered reporter her.

But not a lot of people even _knew_ that she’s been looking into writing an article about the underground alien fight club—only Snapper, and she was required to tell him, being her boss and all that; Alex, because Kara likes to update her on the situation of her day job; and, well, Lena.

_ Lena. _

The answer to the question of _how_ is suddenly clear to her.

Whoever did it obviously has some skills. Hacking into a top corporation’s servers to steal confidential blueprints and coming across heavily concealed information about an illegal event would require that.

And _Lena_ is obviously some sort of computer genius, because _of course_ she is. She managed to infect a chunk of the DEO’s network without her even _trying_, what else would she be capable of if she made a conscious effort?

It was all just a hunch, of course. One that she wasn’t really expecting to come to fruition, because her entire speculation was probably just a stretch at best—but it was also entirely _possible_. But was it true? Maybe, maybe not. She’s doesn’t really know.

But she can’t help it, she pokes and prods on the idea, and the second Lena’s heart rate rises when she mentions the email, she _knows_.

Now, the next thing she has to answer is— _why?_

But before that: does she tell Alex?

//

Kara tells Alex.

It starts out like this:

“I think Lena sent the email with the blueprints.”

Alex breaks the pen she’s holding in half, the plastic casing splintering and bouncing everywhere across the desk, and whatever document she’s been writing on gets irreversibly stained with ink. Kara winces. Maybe she should’ve _eased_ her sister into it.

Slowly, deliberately, Alex looks up to look her dead in the eyes. “What?” she enunciates carefully.

“Okay, hear me out,” she starts, bringing her hands up in hopes of calming the incoming storm. “The only thing tying all of it together is _me_, and the only people who knew about me investigating the fight club was Snapper, you, and _Lena_. Snapper couldn’t have done this. And we know that you didn’t.”

“And how does _Lena_ know?”

“I told her!” Kara explains quickly. “I was having a bad day and I accidentally broke the coffee machine at the office, Lena saw me, asked me what was wrong, so I told her.”

“And what exactly did you _tell_ her?”

“Just about the fight club—I was really stressed, okay? I needed to vent and, well, Lena was there?” she trails off.

One of Alex’s eyes twitch, but her forehead vein has yet to make an appearance, so Kara thinks that this is going pretty well.

“Look, I don’t know _why_ she did it,” Kara continues, “I guess to distract me? She seemed a little worried when I accidentally told her that I stormed the old venue of the fight club by myself.”

“You told her _what_—”

“It’s okay! I totally handled it. She doesn’t suspect anything.”

“_Kara_—”

“Anyway! I think she did it to sort of, distract me, so I wouldn’t try to go in myself, you know?”

“And how would she even _know_ about us storming the fight club that night?”

“Because I think she sent in the anonymous tip, too?” Kara cringes. That’s a lot to drop in one go.

“_What_!?” Alex screeches. Kara winces again. Alex brings a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, then takes deep breaths, before slamming a hand down on the table and saying, voice shaking with intensity, “Can I _please_ do a background check on her?”

Kara’s jaw drops. “Absolutely not!”

“Kara!” Alex whines.

“Look, she doesn’t deserve the person-with-questionable-motives treatment!” she fights back.

“But she does _questionable_ things!”

“No she doesn’t! She’s just been doing her job protecting CatCo’s servers, and she’s being a good friend helping me out with my article and making sure I stayed safe!”

“She _infected_ the DEO with some custom malware, hacked into one of the world’s most secure corporations, and god knows _how_ she even got the location of the fight club!”

“If you put it like that, then yeah, it’s sketchy! But she’s just a _really_ smart person that wants to help, that’s not her fault! She hasn’t done anything bad! Just get to know her and you’ll see!”

They both engage in a stare-off, Kara not backing down with her own brand of a snarl, and Alex sending her the most intimidating look she could make at her sister (she would probably never verbally admit it, but Alex is incapable of looking threateningly at her for too long, the big softie).

It’s Alex who relents first, her shoulders slumping. She throws her head back and sighs. “Is she still coming to game night?” she asks.

Kara grins, having won. “Yes, she is.”

“Then I can’t wait to meet her.”

//

** Kara Danvers [6:09 PM]: ** game night starts at 8! see you :)

Kara looks around her apartment after sending the text to Lena.

It’s a mess.

Her clothes are strewn around, there’s the dirtiest and muddiest rug by the window (for when she goes home from particularly messy missions as Supergirl), and she’s pretty sure that the last time she swept her floors was before the entire debacle of the underground alien fight club happened.

There’s a lot of work to do before her apartment looked visitor-friendly, but luckily she’s Supergirl, so it only took her the better part of an hour to make her living space presentable.

Now for the snacks.

Everyone else usually pitches in for food during game nights while Kara handled the drinks, but she still stands by Lena _needing_ to try the best potstickers in National City. So she super-speeds her way downtown and gets five orders from Chow Hong’s, along with some chow mein and sweet & sour pork, then heads over to the nearest supermarket to get two six-packs of Alex’s beer, and a variety of drinks (orange soda for Winn, Pepsi for James, and a whole array of fruit sodas for herself—two of each, to be shared with Lena).

She arrives back in her apartment at 7:48, and Alex is the first to arrive at 7:50.

“Something slipped my mind,” she immediately says the second she steps inside the apartment. “Remember when Winn and Mon-El went to that bar?”

Kara mentally sighs. Her reaction to that particular information wasn’t that great (well, she wasn’t really having the best day; it was the day Lena walked out on lunch, and the day the mysterious Syvillian corpse was discovered). “Reluctantly, yes.”

“Lena was there, too.”

Kara pauses from where she’s standing, door to the apartment still halfway open. “What?”

“She was at the same bar. She saw the whole thing with Mon-El and the fight,” Alex explains, “There’s a chance she might know he’s an alien, and that she might recognize Winn.”

Kara stands there and regards the new information, and whatever the heck it might imply. “I think that’s fine?” she says, then repeats herself, more sure this time, “I think she’s fine with aliens.”

“You’re sure?”

“I mean, she helped _me_, didn’t she? She saw how bothered I was that my alien friend got involved in a fight club, then she helped me,” Kara points out.

“Or maybe she just cares about you.”

Kara’s face twists in a weird look. “What’s that mean?”

Alex rolls her eyes, but drops the subject. “Maybe you’re forgetting that she also threw a rock at one.”

“Okay, _that’s_ different, and you know it. That one was shooting fireballs.”

Kara had a point. She knew this, and Alex also knows this. “Okay, fine,” Alex relents. “She hasn’t really shown any signs of being a shady person aside from her shining intellect or whatever.”

Kara grins, then throws an arm around her sister. “That’s the spirit!” she exclaims. “You’re gonna love her!”

Alex rolls her eyes. “Maybe not as much as you do,” she mutters.

//

** Kara Danvers [6:09 PM]: ** game night starts at 8! see you :)

Lena’s late. It’s 8:02 and she just left the office.

She curses under her breath. She wanted to make a good impression on Kara’s friends, and showing up late just made her up to be _irresponsible_. She can’t believe she missed her reminder to make her leave the office at 6 PM—but she’s been reinforcing CatCo’s firewalls from scratch, and that has been an extremely time-consuming project.

She also can’t help that she’s the type of person who likes to document her work.

** Lena Kieran [8:02 PM]: ** I just left the office, I might be a little late.

Kara’s reply comes instantly, as it always does.

** Kara Danvers [8:02 PM]: ** it’s ok!!! game night runs until whenever, so you can be as late as you want!

** Lena Kieran [8:03 PM]: ** Can I bring anything?

** Kara Danvers [8:04 PM]: ** just bring any snacks or drinks you like :)

//

Lena doesn’t really know what to bring to a game night. But she’s been thought to _never show up empty-handed_, so she lugs along a bottle of both red and white wine when she reaches the apartment building with Kara’s address.

Kara lives in _Hope Street_, and for some reason, it couldn’t be a more apt location for the reporter.

She dwells just outside the entrance for a few minutes, gathering her wits. She really has no idea what to expect in game night. She’s been thinking of just winging it; but she’s been _winging_ her friendship with Kara so far, and she’s exploded on her once already.

So maybe winging it wasn’t the right approach. Maybe she should’ve done some research on various board games before coming here. She has no knowledge of them. All she knows is chess, and is that even an appropriate game for a game night with _friends_?

_ Maybe I should’ve bought a rosé too. _

“Hey, are you alright?”

A voice snaps Lena out of her thoughts.

She swivels around and finds a burly, bald man standing behind her, and Lena almost honest-to-god passes out because _Jesus Fucking Christ it’s James Olsen_. Lena recognizes him because he’s sort of a celebrity in Metropolis—being the first photographer to capture Superman would do that—and _what_ is he doing in _National City_?

She’s been silent for too long because James asks again, “Uh, are you okay? Do you need any help?”

Lena snaps out of it. “Excuse me?” she says dumbly.

“You’ve been standing out here for a few minutes, are you okay?”

“Oh.” Lena glances over to the building. “I was just on my way in.”

James nods, accepting her answer. “Me too,” he says, gesturing over to the front doors.

He pushes on the door and allows Lena to pass through before he walks inside himself and shuts it behind him. They both make their way to the elevator.

“Which floor you headed?” James asks, prepared to press the button on the elevator’s panel.

“Um, fourth.”

“Alright, me too.”

The elevator doors shut. And this is probably the most one-sided awkward situation Lena’s ever been in. She’s in the same elevator with her brother’s ex-friend’s best friend who probably doesn’t even know she exists. Or does he? Does he know who she is?

(_No. Calm down. If he knew, he’d say something._)

The entire elevator ride is spent in a strained silence—the one that sort of comes if everyone’s not sure whether they should engage in small talk or not. But thankfully, it’s not that long ride, and soon enough they’re both exiting onto the fourth floor.

...only to walk in the same direction.

“Uh, where were you headed again?” the photographer asks, looking a little perplexed.

Lena glances down to the message Kara sent her earlier that week to make sure. “Unit 4A.”

James’ eyebrows shoot up. “Wait, you’re headed to _Kara’s_ apartment?”

If Lena could walk straight out of the building without it seeming odd, she’d do it. She swallows down whatever nerves she’s having and says, “Yes, we work together.”

James bobs his head back, shocked. “You work at _CatCo_? I’ve never seen you.”

_ Does James Olsen works at CatCo? How do I not know this? Is it too early to resign? _ “I usually keep to myself. I’m at IT.”

He nods. “Ah, I see,” he says. He offers his hand up. “I’m James Olsen, CatCo’s art director.”

_ Fucking hell, he does work at CatCo. Of course I’d get hired in the one company in National City with a person Superman’s buddy-buddy with. _ Lena looks at the bottles of wine on each of her hand, then at James.

“Oh.” He retreats his hand.

“I’m Lena Kieran,” she says instead. And maybe she emphasizes her first name to test the waters.

But he doesn’t seem to register anything odd about it. “Nice to meet you, Lena Kieran,” he says, smiling. “So Kara invited you to game night, huh?”

“It seems so,” she responds.

They reach the door to apartment 4A, and before either of them could knock, Kara throws the door open with the brightest smile Lena is beginning to get accustomed to.

“Lena!” she greets. “You’re here.”

Lena returns the smile—she could only hope to emulate the same energy Kara always seems to possess. “Hello, Kara.”

They stand there, looking at each other, for a while, before James clears his throat, reminding them both of his presence. “Hey, Kara,” he greets.

“James!” Kara turns to face him, eyes widening as if just noticing that he’s there. “You made it!”

“Yep, and I brought potstickers.” He raises the clunky take-out bag that Lena just notices that he’s carrying.

“Oh,” Kara mutters, looking behind her shoulder towards her kitchen countertop, where’s there’s three of the same take-out bags. When she looks back to James, her smile is still as wide as ever. “The more the merrier, I say!”

“And I brought wine,” Lena says, offering the two bottles of wine in her hands. “Red and white.”

“Ooh, Alex is gonna love that!” Kara tells her, pulling her inside by her arm. “Let me introduce you to everyone!”

Kara grabs the two bottles of wine with her other hand, places them on the kitchen countertop with the various take-out bags and pizza boxes, and leads her to the living area.

And Lena doesn’t know what she was expecting, but it was definitely not _this_—because when Kara leads to introduce her to the rest of her friends, Lena finds that she _already_ recognizes them.

Sitting on a stool in front of the coffee table, is the woman at the Alien Amnesty Act signing, who was she presumed worked with Detective Sawyer or Supergirl herself.

And the boy sitting on a recliner—wholly preoccupied with a game on his phone—she knows as Winn-or-Finn from the bar, who was doing shots with the alien (or not).

Lena stands there blinking for a moment, vaguely registering Kara introducing her to everyone.

“That’s Alex,” she says, pointing at the woman, who doesn’t really acknowledge her, “she’s my sister. This nerd over here is Winn—” the man jerks up when he hears his name “—he used to work at CatCo.” She swivels around to point at James, who was shrugging off his coat. “And that’s James, who you met outside, I guess. He also works at CatCo.”

Lena absently nods, her eyes locked on the woman—_Alex_, as Kara introduced her—and she immediately averts her eyes when she sees the woman look back.

“Everyone!” Kara says louder, clapping her hands together, and everyone aptly looks up at the reporter. “_This_,” she brings a hand to Lena’s back, “is Lena!”

And Lena suddenly finds all eyes on her. _What the fuck does she do now?_ She weakly raises a hand and gives a meek wave. “Hi.”

_ Does she even say that she’s already met everyone in the room in one way or another? _

“Um,” Lena starts.

But Winn (_not Finn_), interrupts her. “Hey!” he greets, shooting to his feet and sticking his hand out. “I’m Winn. I used to be IT at CatCo!”

Suddenly Lena remembers. “Wait, _you’re_ Winn? As in _all-I-do-is-Winn_.”

Winn laughs. “Ha, you saw that, huh?” He retracts his hand to scratch at the back of his head sheepishly.

“It was under the keyboard.”

Winn shoots Kara a look, which Lena sees, but doesn’t really understand.

This whole thing is a little crazy, if Lena’s being honest to herself. National City is not a small city by any means, and the chances that she’d randomly run into Kara’s sister and friend at separate times, and being said friend’s replacement at CatCo, where Kara still works? It was hard to believe, but here she is.

And she can’t help but think—was it all a coincidence? Was she meant to meet everyone in this room?

Lena’s never really believed in fate. And she’s not about to start.

“Anyway!” Kara says all too enthusiastically, effectively cutting off Lena’s thoughts. “Everyone pick their places and their partners, we’re playing charades!”

And _alright, charades._ _I know the basic rules of charades. I think._

//

It was not going well.

Because while Lena did actually know the rules and mechanics of charades, she still clearly missed out on a chunk of pop culture and therefore didn’t know a majority of the topics presented.

Alex has opted to sit out of the game, giving Kara the opportunity to pretty much jump at the chance of partnering up with her, while Winn and James paired up.

They proved to be a formidable opponent. It’s like the two of them shared a brain, or whatever, because they communicated almost exclusively in inside jokes and personal anecdotes.

But Lena and Kara, and while the latter was pretty well-versed in pop culture (Lena had no doubt about it, Kara seemed like the person to just _know_ those types of things), Lena still had no clue and frankly did a shit job acting out their cards.

(A notable moment: Lena gets a card with _Harry Potter_ written on it.

She proceeds to act it out as if it said _hairy potter_—mimicking a person with excessive amounts of hair doing pottery—endlessly confusing not only Kara, but also everyone in the room.

When no one guesses it right, and she eventually reveals the contents of her card, multiple jaws drop.)

It also doesn’t help that Lena can feel Alex scrutinizing her without so much as having to look at her.

(She’s rarely ever intimidated by anyone. But Alex Danvers is quickly proving herself to be an intimidating woman.

Which would make sense. Lena deduces that she’s in law enforcement, or maybe something else entirely—she wears her watch on the inside of her wrist, and Lena’s only ever seen soldiers where it like that.)

It’s Kara and Lena’s turn again, and it’s Kara who has to act the card out.

After reading the card and having a moment to think, Kara brings her hands together and starts swinging around.

Lena scrunches her eyebrows. “Uh, is that a bat?” she asks.

She starts making _whooshing_ sounds to accompany the swings—and Lena’s _sure_ it’s a weapon of some kind.

“A sword?” she tries.

Kara starts exaggerating the whooshing sounds.

“Wait is that—” Lena starts, face twisting in recognition “—from Star Wars. It’s a lightsaber!”

Kara cheers, along with Winn and James. Lena even sees Alex smirk before she takes a swig from her beer.

“I can’t believe you know Star Wars but not Harry Potter!” Kara says incredulously, throwing an arm around her.

Lena can’t help but blush. Yeah, so she’s never read or watched Harry Potter, but she has seen the original Star Wars trilogy during one of the few Christmas vacations she spent at the Luthor Manor with Lex.

(It was his box set, and Lex surprised Lena with it. Lionel and Lillian were out on a business trip, so they weren’t there to stop them.)

“I’m not really interested in… magic,” she says.

“But you are in lightsabers and the force?”

“It’s more the space ships, I think.”

Winn snorts somewhere, and Kara beams at her, looking giddy. “You’re a nerd!” she exclaims. “I bet you have memorabilia, and Star Wars LEGO sets!”

Lena laughs, waving a hand as if to dismiss the notion. “I only _wish_ I had them,” she scoffs. “My mother throws out any toy she sees me with.”

Lena doesn’t mean to say it, but maybe she felt a quick sense of ease at everyone’s cheer when she _finally_ got a point. Maybe she’s making friends right now.

But everyone quiets down around her, and Lena pauses.  _Did I say something wrong?_

“What?” Kara asks, brows scrunching together. “You never had any toys growing up?”

“I played chess a lot,” she tries to backtrack. “It’s good practice for focus and decision-making under pressure.”

“_Under pressure_? What about for _fun_?”

Lena recoils. _What the hell am I saying wrong?_ “What?”

Everyone’s looking at her now, even Alex, who has her brows furrowed and is leaning a bit forward on her seat, a frown playing on her face.

“You never played when you were young?” Kara asks again, a gentler tone to her voice.

“I played _chess_,” Lena repeats.

“Yeah, but you made it sound more like military training than having fun,” Winn points out, and James elbows him in the ribs. He yelps, but manages to look a little guilty.

“Playing as in having fun, for the laughs,” Kara explains. “You know, like what we’re doing now.”

Lena doesn’t really understand, but she says, “Oh. I don’t think I had time for that.”

It’s true, and there was really no purpose for it, anyway. Lillian insisted she spent her free time going over her textbooks so she gets ahead on her lessons—and it wasn’t for nothing, she was always the top of her class. It was effort with consequence. And okay, so it made her a little odd when she was young. It’s not exactly new information. No need to single her out because of it.

She looks away from everyone’s prying eyes and crosses her arms on her lap.

Kara, who probably has some sixth-sense tuned in on her, redirects the conversation. “Um,” she begins, “I’ll go get the food, and we can put on a movie while we eat!”

“Ooh, I’ll pick the movie!” Winn quips, already scooting over to the TV set and digging around Kara’s apparently vast collection of movies.

“I’ll help you out,” James offers, standing up to follow Kara to the kitchen.

And then it’s just Lena and Alex there, and Lena wishes it wasn’t so painfully awkward, so she just nurses her soda (she didn’t want to to drink wine, because she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from drinking too much—and she didn’t really want to be tipsy around a bunch of strangers).

“Hey,” Alex says suddenly, and Lena jerks her head up to look at her. “You probably don’t remember but…”

“I do,” Lena cuts off. Then she winces, because she wasn’t even _sure_ that the woman was referring to the same thing. “I mean, I’ve somewhat met you. If you could call it that. At the Alien Amnesty Act signing.”

Alex laughs, and Lena’s surprised with the sincerity of it. “Yeah, that’s what I was gonna say. Great job that day.”

Lena wants to roll her eyes at that, but stops herself. _Why does everyone keep saying that?_ “I just threw a rock and then passed out.”

Alex snorts, and it sounds odd coming from the previously intimidating woman. “Well, that’s not what Kara’s saying. She was there, too. Wrote an article about it and everything.”

“Yes, she told me.”

The woman shifts in her seat, setting her beer bottle on the floor before leaning forward. “Look, I was there too. We wouldn’t have figured out how to stop that Infernian so fast without your help. So, thank you.”

Lena blinks for a few moments, caught off-guard. “It’s no problem.”

Then Kara arrives, carrying a stack of take-out boxes in one hand, and a two bottles of beer in the other. “I got potstickers!” she announces, but it looks to be more for Lena’s benefit because she’s facing her.

She hands her the stack of take-out boxes and Lena hastily balances it all in her hands.

“They’re from Chow Hong’s,” Kara continues to explain, settling beside Lena.

They’re the only ones on the couch—Alex is still on her stool, while Winn and James have opted to sit on the floor for better access to the coffee table—and even though there’s a big expanse of space on the other end, Kara sits directly beside Lena.

And Lena would usually find the contact uncomfortable, but she doesn’t.

//

“So, what do you think?” Kara asks after making sure that Lena has reached her apartment safe and sound.

(Alex still finds it weird to randomly see her sister stand still for a few minutes with her eyes closed, her super-hearing tuned in on someone.)

“She seems nice,” Alex says.

Kara grins. “I told you! Isn’t she great?”

What’s _also_ weird is her sister’s fixation on the National City newbie. It’s like she saw her throw a rock once and she’s immediately enamored by the woman. It’s weird.

Alex hums, not really wanting to give a direct answer to the question. “She’s a little shy, but I guess she’s a good person.”

“She is!”

And another thing that’s weird; did _Kara_, with her endless void of a stomach, share her potstickers with the woman? Even her—_her own sister!_—couldn’t get more than one whenever they ordered Chinese, and Kara was willing to give away two orders’ worth of them? Unbelievable.

But what’s even _weirder_ was the woman herself.

Lena Kieran.

Who’s apparently a “computer genius”, as Kara so eloquently described her. Who may or may not have hacked into LuthorCorp and somehow found the address of an illegal and exclusive event, who was sharp enough to figure out a method to subdue an active threat, and who was so smart and resourceful that she managed to turn CatCo into a cyber fortress that not even Winn, who has quickly climbed up to be the best in the DEO’s tech division, could penetrate it.

Who also apparently had some sort of sheltered, troubled childhood.

Who dodged questions about family.

(“So, Lena, you got family here in National City?” she asks out of the blue. If Kara wouldn’t let her do a background check on her, then she’d ask the woman herself.

“Oh, no,” the woman answers. She shifts on her seat, but doesn’t elaborate anymore.

Alex finds it interesting. “But you do have a family, right?” It’s an extremely inappropriate question, she’s aware of that, and things could turn sour real quick when the answer turned out to be _no_. But Alex knew how to play her cards.

“Yes, of course.”

“Where are they?” She can see Kara giving her a warning look from the corner of her eye, but Alex fixes her sight on the box of chicken fried rice in front of her. “They’re still around?”

“My mother is.”

“Where is she?”

Alex spies the woman’s knuckles turning white with her tightening grip on her chopsticks. That’s not a normal reaction.

“She likes to travel,” is the vague answer.

Kara is already glaring at her, so Alex drops the questioning.)

There’s something odd about Lena Kieran, and Alex can’t really put her finger on it. But damn it all if she doesn’t figure out what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna say this with the full risk of embarrassing myself, but I've actually been putting Lena Luthor in the text threads instead of Lena Kieran. I only just noticed, and I'm surprised no one's pointed it out lmao??? I've edited it now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex takes one step forward (and two steps back, it depends on how you see it). Winn's not having the best time. Lena meets Supergirl.

Lena catches up with Winn outside Kara’s apartment building.

“Hey, Winn?” she calls.

Winn swivels around to look at her, his eyebrows raised in question.

“I just feel like I have to tell you…” she starts, “about the bar brawl you were in a few days ago? You probably don’t remember, you were quite tipsy, but I was there, too.”

“Wha—”

“But you don’t have to worry,” Lena continues. “I didn’t tell anyone. About your friend.”

“My… friend?”

“Yes, the—” Lena looks around the area “alien.”

Winn’s jaw drops. “Oh my god, you’re the _dark haired healer_!”

Lena brows raises in question. “The what?”

“It was what Mo—my _friend_ called you,” he explains. “You were the one that administered first aid?”

“Oh, yes. There’s nothing to worry about, they were just dislocated bones, the doctors would’ve had them set in no time.”

Winn blinks at her. “Right.”

“I also bumped into an NCPD detective who responded to the scene. She was the only one I told the situation to, and she told me to keep it on the down low. And I only described the nature of the victims’ injuries to the paramedics who arrived.”

Winn nods, a little too aggressively, if Lena was being honest. “Okay, okay,” he says, “Thanks for keeping quiet about it. My, um, friend… he’s new to the area, he’s still adjusting.”

“Yes, I completely understand,” Lena responds, nodding along with him (though not as aggressively).

“Anyway, I apologize on his behalf for any trouble he caused that night,” Winn says, and even makes a display of doing a little bow.

Lena chuckles for his benefit—she likes him, he’s a little awkward and plenty nerdy, and maybe they could be good friends (she’s still a little reserved with the idea of having friends, but Kara’s little gang was as every bit refreshing as Kara was to her, albeit in each their own way).

“Hey, I had a really great time tonight,” he tells her. “See you next game night?”

“Of course,” she replies. And she finds herself looking forward to it.

//

“Winn.” Alex strides into the command center. “I need you to do something for me but I also need you to keep quiet about it.”

“Wha—”

“Are you going to do it or not?”

Winn blinks up at his superior officer. Honestly, this woman is _terrifying_. He nods.

“Okay, good. I need you to do a full background check on Lena Kieran.”

“Wait, what—”

“_Do it_, Agent Schott.”

Winn raises his hands to concede, but says anyway, “Alex, Kara’s not gonna like this.”

“I know. That’s why I need you to keep quiet about it.”

“You want me to _lie_ to her?” He gapes.

“You can’t lie to her when she never finds out.”

“Lying by omission is a thing!” he screams, then curls in on himself when Alex stomps closer to his chair.

“_Are you going to do it or not?_”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” he squeals. “I mean, yes, I am. I will immediately get right on that.”

Alex arches a brow at him when he doesn’t move, so he swivels his chair back to face his computer. He immediately starts—but he can still feel Alex breathing down his neck, and is he getting goosebumps? Maybe. Probably so. His hands are also shaking a bit.

“Uh,” he says, voice hoarse, “this is going to take a while since we don’t have access to her employee records.”

Alex drops her head and lets out a quiet groan. She faces him. “Kara _cannot_ find out about this, do I make myself clear?”

Winn gulps. “Yes ma’am. Crystal clear, ma’am.”

“Okay, good. Notify me immediately when you find something.” With that, Alex leaves the command center as suddenly as she arrived.

He lets out a breath of relief. _God, he’s so fucked._

//

Lena texts first the following morning.

**Lena Kieran [7:16 AM]: **Good morning. Thank you for last night, I had fun :)

She doesn’t get an instant reply, which she expected. It’s way too early, and it’s the weekend, anyway, and while Lena was used to getting up early on all days of the week, Kara might be the person who preferred to take a breather during the weekend—which she deserves, she probably had a long week after the fight club article.

(And also because they kept up a text conversation well through the night, talking about nothing in particular, and mostly Star Wars, since the reporter also seemed to be a fan—her favorite character is Princess Leia.

She stopped replying for a while around midnight, so Lena fell asleep. But when she woke up in the morning, there was another text from the blonde with a 3AM timestamp.

**Kara Danvers [3:08 AM]: **i discovered cinnamon buns because of Leia. so naturally she became my favorite character. i owe her that much.

The text was immensely confusing for her sleep-addled brain, but after a quick Google search of “cinnamon buns Leia”, she eventually understood the reference. She thought it was odd to make pastry the reason behind a favorite character, but it was just another uniquely Kara quirk that she somehow made endearing.)

She mentally goes through her to-do for the day:

First stop is actually, finally, setting up a bank account. She’s been putting it off and living off of the cash she’s brought with her—which is still be a considerable amount, considering the lifestyle she’s built for herself—and it would be good to stop storing cash in a briefcase in her apartment.

Next stop is buying a new pair of work shoes. It’s time to retire her incriminating Louis Vuitton heels before someone else finds out about her.

(Cat has been keeping her promise so far—she hasn’t given Lena any special attention, and she hasn’t alluded to anything Luthor-related. If anything, she’s being largely ignored by the CEO, and she couldn’t be thankful enough. It’s why she’s so determined to flush out whoever’s been hacking into the CatCo server, even if it’s not a part of her job description.)

And after that, go grocery shopping. (She finds the chore both tiring and refreshing, and at least now she likes the things she’s choosing for herself.)

She takes a shower and sets off into the city in what Lillian would deem the most abysmal outfit ever: Lena’s wearing a white hoodie with a small chest embroidery of Supergirl’s crest (it’s something she bought on a whim on her first week in National City—clothes shops are chock-full of the symbol, and Lena thought that she might as well have a piece for her own), and regular _blue jeans_.

It’s the comfiest clothes Lena would ever do errands in.

It’s about 8:30 and she’s still having breakfast (yes, she has made it a bit of a habit to eat breakfast now—although she still skips it sometimes) at the café adjacent to her apartment building when she gets a text back from Kara.

**Kara Danvers [8:32 AM]: **good morning!!! i had a great time too! i’ll ask Winn to bring his Star Wars Monopoly next week :D

Lena has never played Monopoly, but she has witnessed a few games in her time at boarding school. It had been the source of multiple conflicts.

**Lena Kieran [8:32 AM]:** That sounds lovely :)

She only notices the emoticon after she sends the text. _When did she start doing that?_

**Kara Danvers [8:33 AM]: **ok cool! and we can go over all the board games till you know everything!

Lena’s reminded of the little hiccup last night, when she told them that she’s never _played for fun_ when she was a child. She expected scrutiny, and perhaps she thought that it _was_ what she was getting from all the looks everyone sent her way, but all she heard was sympathy from Kara’s voice (and, to be honest, she didn’t know which she disliked more).

So she doesn’t know what to feel about Kara’s text. What did it entail, exactly?

**Lena Kieran [8:35 AM]:** That might take a while.

**Kara Danvers [8:36 AM]:** and i’ll be with you the whole time!!

And, _geeze_, what a loaded statement. Lena doesn’t reply.

//

Weekends mean no CatCo, so the first thing Kara does after eating a hearty breakfast is changing into her super suit and flying to the DEO headquarters.

“Good morning!” she greets no one in particular when she lands.

(No one greets her back because, frankly, no one’s really around. A lot of the agents preferred their day offs on the weekend, but they were still obliged to be on call.)

She’s in a good mood. Game night with Lena last night had been a resounding success (despite Alex’s questioning that Kara immediately cut short), she continued a text conversation with her well into the night (which paused for a while as she heard an apartment fire on the other side of the city), and then she woke up with a good morning text.

And she’s even secured the plans for game night next week (and all the following weeks). She can’t wait to show Lena _everything_ that she’s missed.

(She remembers being first introduced to the concept of board games.

It seemed so primitive—everything on Krypton were stored in crystals that emitted holograms and the like; and coming from _that_ and being showed Earth’s own brand of entertainment in the form of cardboard and hundreds of small, easily-lost pieces had been… a bit of a culture shock for her.

But she learned to love them, anyway—mostly because it had been one of the reasons Alex had warmed up to her. Board games took _so_ long to finish sometimes, and it was their way of spending time together when her sister was still a little bit wary of her.)

“Hey, Winn!” she greets her friend, who was mysteriously slumped closer to his desk than he usually is.

Winn jolts around when he hears her approach. “Kara!” he greets back, a rather manic look in his eyes. Kara’s seen this look before.

Her eyebrows furrow at the sight of him. “Did you stay here all night again?” she asks, then one of his eyes twitch. “You look… crazy.”

“What? Me?” he questions, tone unnatural and rather pitched higher than normal, “Crazy? Nope. No way, sir!”

There’s something weird about him right now, Kara thinks, and she leans in closer to observe him. “You don’t _look_ sleep deprived,” she muses, head tilting to the side. “Did Alex threaten your life again?”

He lets out a laugh that sounds more like a wheezed breath. “Ha! No. Nope.”

Kara stands back, a little confused by her friend’s odd behavior, but she brushes it off as one of his quirks (Winn can be an odd one—he’s so _nerdy_). “Anyway,” she says, “can you bring your Star Wars-themed Monopoly set to game night next week?”

He jumps up immediately. “No problem!” he exclaims. “I will jot that down in my calendar _immediately_! As in, right now!” Then, he dashes off the command center, to presumably jot down the crucial information on his calendar.

(Kara didn’t even know that Winn _kept_ a calendar.)

“Oh… kay…” she says, mumbling mostly to herself, when Winn scampers out of sight.

She looks around the room, and only sees a bunch of agents tinkering around. There are no big emergencies to warrant her attention, so she’s pretty much just here… waiting for things to happen. She whips out her phone.

There’s a little disappointment when there’s no text from Lena, but she sends another one anyway.

**Kara Danvers [9:12 AM]:** we’re all set for Star Wars Monopoly next week! :)

And because Lena’s a little bad at replying to texts, she tries to quell the further disappointment when she doesn’t immediately get a reply back.

But her curiosity still nags at her, so she sends another one.

**Kara Danvers [9:13 AM]: **what are you doing today?

She pockets her phone after that, not really expecting a reply, but it vibrates again only after a minute.

**Lena Kieran [9:14 AM]: **Going to the bank and then some grocery shopping. How about you?

She bites on her bottom lip to hold back the smile that’s making her way to her face—she thinks it would be weird for people to see Supergirl grinning at her phone screen in the middle of the DEO.

**Kara Danvers [9:14 AM]:** just some extra work :D did you get bfast?

**Lena Kieran [9:15 AM]:** You would be pleased to know that I did eat breakfast today.

**Lena Kieran [9:15 AM]:** Are you working on an article?

Kara looks around the DEO headquarters, and decides that _yes_, she is working on an article.

**Kara Danvers [9:16 AM]:** yep!!

There’s a few minutes where Lena doesn’t reply back, but when she does—

**Lena Kieran [9:19 AM]:** About the blueprints?

And Kara’s reminded of that entire thing again. _Oh, Lena_, she thinks. _If I wasn’t sure then, then I’m definitely sure now._

But come to think of it, she still doesn’t know what to do with the blueprints. There’s not much to go on if she decides to make an article out of it—they’re just blueprints, and both the Venture and LuthorCorp has been avoiding the press like the plague—and how would CatCo even go about explaining _how_ they got it in the first place?

Leaked information were often sent to publications, but this is from _LuthorCorp_, something that’s _not_ to be messed with, and linking it with CatCo could not only potentially bring her into the mix, but also _Lena_.

Should she just ignore it? She doesn’t think so. The Venture explosion is still a widely speculated incident, and the involved people’s avoidance in talking about it makes it a more enticing source of conspiracy theories—theories that she and Clark went over when they tried to investigate it.

One suggested faulty wiring in the engine. It was the most believable theory.

Another suggested that it was some murder attempt gone wrong. Whoever formulated the theory never really said who the target was; but a plane filled with the world’s most influential people? Surely someone wanted at least one of them dead.

And another one suggested that it was a _Snakes on a Plane_ situation, which was just ridiculous.

So maybe the release of the blueprints could shed some light on the subject, and hopefully ease the unrest the people felt.

**Kara Danvers [9:20 AM]:** nope, just a fluff piece :) i’m thinking of just releasing the blueprints to the public, actually

**Lena Kieran [9:20 AM]: **Oh, really? Why not write about it?

**Kara Danvers [9:20 AM]:** there’s rly not much to go on for an article.

**Lena Kieran [9:21 AM]:** How are you going to release it?

**Kara Danvers [9:21 AM]:** i’m thinking anonymously. in an online public forum, or something.

It’s a pretty solid idea, Kara thinks. That way, the public is free to form their own opinions on the topic. She doesn’t know _how_ she’s going to do it, to make sure it doesn’t get traced back to CatCo or her, but maybe she could ask Winn or someone for help.

Or maybe…

**Kara Danvers [9:22 AM]:** i was thinking maybe you could help me with it?

The reply comes before she’s even able to blink after sending the message.

**Lena Kieran [9:22 AM]: **Of course

//

Winn is not the type of person to immediately think of the worst possible things.

But when he sees the profile he’s gathered on Lena Kieran, what he immediately thinks is—_okay, so she lied a little._

(“She likes to travel,” she answers when Alex asks her about her mom.)

Because Lena Kieran’s mother is dead—has been dead since 1997, when Lena was only 4-years-old, in Ireland of all places.

And what’s even _weirder_ than that tidbit; Lena Kieran disappeared from Ireland on the same year her mother died and only surfaced again in National City a few weeks ago. No existing school records or past jobs, no social media presence, or any sort of financial trail. Nothing.

And Winn doesn’t know what to make of it, so after he escapes from Kara, he barges into Alex’s private and secluded lab.

“Alex!”

Said woman whips around to face him, an almost deadly glint in her eyes. “Winn, don’t you know how to _knock_?”

He brushes off her question. “There’s something you need to see. It’s about Lena Kieran.”

He shoves the tablet he’s holding towards her, and gives her a few moments to process all the information written on it. Alex’s eyes flit over the screen, her brows slowly sinking into a furrow the more she reads.

“This is everything,” she says, but it sounds more like a question.

“I’m positive, I scoured all government databases,” he answers. “There’s _nothing else_ on her.”

Alex hums, scrolling along the tablet, as if willing for more things to show up when she does. She drops it on her work table after skimming over it the second time.

“W-What do you think it means?” Winn questions.

The agent sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’ve seen cases like those—the most plausible reason is witness protection. She disappeared the same year her mother died, maybe she saw something she shouldn’t have, and it would explain why she was so vague when I asked questions about her.”

“Do you think she’s safe?”

Alex contemplates the question, then says, “People can leave witness protection any time they want.”

“But she is a good person, then? Maybe just a little weird.”

She sighs. “I don’t know. It explains a lot about her, that’s for sure. But witness protection can be tough, especially on kids. We don’t know what kind of person she grew into.”

Winn is silent for a while, then says, “Do we tell Kara?”

//

Alex decides to tell Kara, for the sake of honesty and sibling transparency.

But not right now, maybe.

She sees her devouring a cupcake in the DEO break room—_where did she even get those?_

“Hey Alex!” her little sister greets her when she walks in. “Want a cupcake?”

Alex declines, both because she doesn’t want to deprive Kara of the treats, and because she’s sure Kara’s only asking to be polite.

“Hey, wanna have a movie night later?” Alex tentatively asks. She knows Kara would agree, she doesn’t have any plans for the weekend that she knows of.

“Oh, I’m actually gonna meet with Lena tonight!”

This makes Alex pause. “What?”

“Which reminds me! I know what to do with the LuthorCorp-Venture blueprints now.”

“You do?”

“I’m releasing them anonymously to the public. Lena’s going to help make sure it doesn’t get traced back to me. It’s why we’re meeting up.”

Alex blinks. “We have Winn,” she supplies.

“Yeah but I kinda wanna involve Lena in it, you know?” Kara explains, picking up another cupcake. “I think she’s been on edge ever since she sent it to me—she still doesn’t know that I know, by the way—and maybe helping me out could relax her a little.”

It’s a pretty good idea, Alex thinks, and she’s grateful that it’s the path Kara’s taking. This way, there would be no connections to the leak and CatCo, and by extension, no connection to Kara.

“Right. Okay. That’s good,” she says.

Kara looks at her when she says that, then tilts her head to the side. “Are you okay? Everyone’s been acting so weird today.”

Which brings Alex back to her initial problem—how’s she going to ease Kara in the knowledge that she made Winn do an intensive background check on her new friend, and discovered some pretty concerning things?

She decides to just dive right into it.

“I have to tell you something.”

Her words makes Kara sit straighter. “What’s up?”

“I know you’re going to be mad, but please just know that I did it to protect you, alright?”

Kara’s eyebrows furrow. “Okay? That’s not worrying at all.”

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself. Kara’s not going to like this one bit. “I did a background check on Lena Kieran.”

And Kara doesn’t say anything—but her jaw drops, and along with it, her cupcake. It falls unceremoniously to the table top, frosting side down, the sugary icing making a splat on the table.

“You… what?”

_Okay, nothing’s broken,_ Alex thinks, _doing good so far._

“I asked Winn to dig up everything he could find on Lena Kieran,” she repeats more specifically this time. She’ll apologize for dragging Winn into this later.

And Kara’s suddenly _fuming_. “And what exactly did you find out? That she volunteers at the animal shelter on her spare time?”

Alex sighs. Here comes the outburst that she’s been expecting. “No, not that,” she tells her. “Listen, Kara—”

“No, no, I don’t wanna hear this!” She shoots up to her feet, and starts marching out of the room.

Alex follows after her. “Kara, you have to _listen_, she’s a lot more than what she seems—”

Kara whirls around to face her, and Alex stumbles back a step at the sudden stop. “No, _I’m_ a lot more than what I seem,” she says, “I’m pretending to be a harmless reporter who wants to be friends with her when I’m actually a superhero working with a government agency hell-bent on violating the very basic human right to _privacy_!”

Alex recoils at the outburst, looking straight at the genuine fire in Kara’s eyes. She’s speechless, as she usually finds herself when her sister does something truly unexpected (because she _was_ expecting the outburst—but not something to this degree).

The superhero sags in front of her. “Sorry,” she mutters, “I didn’t mean to shout.”

“It’s fine,” Alex reassures, and it really is. “I may have been a step over the line, but you have to listen to what I have to say, alright?”

Then Kara sighs, her shoulders sagging lower. “Fine.”

Alex leads her back to the break room, sitting her down on a chair. The box of baked treats (and the ruined cupcake) are still on the table, and Kara busies herself by grabbing and nibbling on another one.

She takes a deep breath, then starts: “Lena’s mother is dead.”

Kara pauses in her nibbling. “What?”

“She told us her mother _likes to travel_—but it turns out her mother is dead.”

“D-Does she know?”

“She died in 1997 when Lena was 4-years-old. She disappeared the same year.”

Kara’s jaw drops. “_Disappeared?_”

“She only surfaced again a few weeks ago, here, in National City.”

The hero’s jaw slackens further.

“I think she was in witness protection, maybe she saw something she shouldn’t have when her mother died, or got killed, I don’t know. Or worse, maybe she’s been kidnapped the entire time—”

“Witness protection?” Kara gasps out. “_Kidnapped_?”

“We don’t know that for sure yet,” Alex corrects. “And we also don’t know who or what the threat could be if she was. Resurfacing under the same name after being kidnapped doesn’t make much sense, but… being _gone_ for a long time changes people.”

Kara slumps back in her chair, a disbelieving look on her face.

“Look, these are all just theories, okay? Nothing’s confirmed. There’s little to no documentation on witness protection cases. But those are the only conclusions I could come up with, there are no records of her anywhere—school, jobs, speeding tickets, nothing.”

“She’s—” Kara releases a shaky sigh. “I’m seeing her tonight.”

Alex opens her mouth, intent on telling Kara that she _can_ cancel on Lena if she isn’t feeling it right now, to bring up her offer on movie night again—

But an agent carrying a beeping tablet runs into the room. “There’s a truck collision on the bridge and a car’s teetering off the edge!”

And it only takes a second for Kara to digest the information before there’s a notable gust of wind and her sister’s speeding out of the DEO.

_Hero duties first_, Alex thinks.

_I hope telling her was a good idea._

//

Lifting the car back to safety, flying the two trucks to their respective repair shops, and stabilizing the bridge takes Kara a grand total of 40 minutes.

She usually flies back to the DEO, but all the things Alex told her is still shaking her, so she decides to go on her usual patrol around the city.

And maybe she tries to find and tune in on Lena to make sure she’s safe.

(She finds her heartbeat somewhere near the general area of a grocery store. It’s steady and strong.)

When she finishes circling the city twice, she whips out her phone and finds another text message from Lena, asking her where they should meet up later that night. Kara would have initially suggested Noonan’s, but doing sensitive work in that public of an area wouldn’t have been a good idea.

**Kara Danvers [12:38 PM]: **how about my place?

It’s a valid suggestion, right? Winn usually complained about needing a _stable internet connection_ whenever he did some things, and Kara likes to think that her apartment had a decent one. And her apartment is at, like, one of the safest portions of the city.

(_Where does Lena live? Is it safe?_)

**Kara Danvers [12:38 PM]: **or your place? aren’t you gonna need good internet?

Lena replies after a few minutes.

**Lena Kieran [12:41 PM]: **Your apartment would be fine. Mine is still barely furnished, unfortunately.

**Kara Danvers [12:42 PM]: **you haven’t gone furniture shopping yet!?

**Lena Kieran [12:42 PM]: **I have, but I’m just terrible at making shopping lists. I forgot to buy a bed frame and sheets when I bought my mattress.

**Kara Danvers [12:42 PM]: **you don’t have a bed frame?

**Lena Kieran [12:43 PM]: **I do now. But it’s still unused because the delivery men put it down the wrong spot and I can’t move it.

**Kara Danvers [12:43 PM]: **i can move it for you

She types it out without thinking—offering help is pretty much second nature to her, but she still blushes when she reads it out.

**Lena Kieran [12:44 PM]: **I would accept your offer just to see you try and move it.

**Kara Danvers [12:44 PM]: **i’m pretty strong. and i’m serious! we can go to your place instead so you don’t have to walk to my apartment anymore :)

**Lena Kieran [12:45 PM]: **But then you’d have to walk to my apartment.

**Kara Danvers [12:45 PM]:** yeah but i’m sturdy

She regrets it the moment she sends it. _I’m sturdy? Who says that? What does that even mean?_

**Lena Kieran [12:46 PM]: **I can’t argue with that. But I only really have one chair in my apartment, I can’t imagine it would be comfortable.

**Kara Danvers [12:45 PM]: **but you’d be comfortable in your space! i can sit on the floor or whatever, i’m not picky.

**Lena Kieran [12:46 PM]:** Are you sure?

**Kara Danvers [12:46 PM]: **totally! just send me your address and i’ll be there at 7 :)

//

Kara spends the rest of her day at the edge of her seat.

(Well, she wasn’t exactly sitting, she spent the entire day flying around National City, stopping petty robberies and rescuing pets stuck in trees. Busying herself with superhero work would’ve been distraction enough, but it wasn’t.)

Kara knows she has a protective streak—it’s the superhero inside her. Why have all these powers if you wouldn’t use them for good? And she does do good—she’s _Supergirl_, she protects National City with all she has. But when someone she _cares about_ needed her? She’ll give it everything she has and _even more_.

(It just so happens that Lena Kieran has wormed her way into the list of people that Kara cared particularly about.)

That’s what Kara tells herself when she saves Lena from a mugging in full Supergirl regalia.

_“You alone, lady?”_

_…_

_“Hey, I was talking to you.”_

_“Let go of me—”_

She’s been paranoid all day after what Alex told her—and she can’t help it when she has one ear tuned in on Lena. So when she picks up on menacing voices and her quickly rising heartbeat, she’s flying off to follow her sound to a particularly shady street.

She lands a few feet away from them, the ground cracking under her feet, and she’s aware of the strategically placed street lamp illuminating her.

“S-Supergirl!” the man gripping on Lena’s arm stutters.

“Let her go,” she growls, stomping closer.

The man takes a few steps back, knuckles turning white with how tight he’s holding onto Lena. She looks scared and pained, struggling against the hand gripped onto her, all the while being semi-dragged whenever the man makes a move.

“Let go of her,” she repeats, putting larger weight in her steps so the ground vibrates.

When the man moves, Kara moves faster.

He shoves Lena to the ground, but Kara manages to catch her before she hits and she cushions her fall before she chases after him. When she does (it wasn’t really that hard), she ties his hands together to a pole using his own shirt. The whole incident maybe takes 10 seconds, and when she speeds back to Lena, she’s still struggling to get back on her feet.

“L—” Kara catches herself. “Miss!”

Kara rushes to help stand her back up. Her hands are shaking and her heart’s still beating fast.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks, and she has to be aware to talk in her _Supergirl Voice_. “I can bring you to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Lena tells her, voice still a pitch higher, while she dusts off dirt from her pants.

She watches Lena rub at the spot on her arm the man had been holding onto. She takes a short peek with her x-ray vision and sees the telltale signs of a bruise forming. “Are you sure?” she asks again. “We can be there in less than a minute.”

Lena blanches. “Yes, I’m sure,” she says quickly. She straightens. “Thank you, um, Supergirl.”

“You’re welcome,” Kara replies instinctively. It’s only when Lena’s fully facing her that she notices the small Supergirl logo at the chest of the hoodie she’s wearing.

And Lena must notice that she noticed too, because from looking pale, she suddenly blushes a bright red. “Uh,” she stammers, “i-it was on sale.”

Kara grins, but refrains from commenting on it. “If you don’t want to go to the hospital, I can fly you home instead.”

“No!” Lena says quickly. “I-I mean, I live close by, I can walk there myself.”

Kara wants to frown, not too hot on the idea of Lena walking alone back to her apartment, but she can pick up on the man struggling against the temporary restraints she put him on, and she really has to bring him to the police. “Well, if you’re really alright, miss…”

“L-Lena. Lena Kieran.”

“If you’re really alright, Miss Kieran, I should leave you to it and bring that guy over there to the police.”

Lena glances back at the guy. “Of course,” she says. “Thank you again, Supergirl.”

“Anything for the residents of National City.”

Lena gives her a shy smile, and she’s about to make a move to retrieve the man, when suddenly, Lena says, “Wait!”

She whips back around.

“Can you… is the rest of the block safe? I have a friend coming over—she might be on her way and…”

Kara _melts_ when she realizes what’s going on. “I didn’t hear any more trouble going on in a five block radius,” she reassures her. Not that it matters to her, but she guesses it does to Lena.

“Okay, good,” Lena sighs.

“I should get going now,” she says.

“Oh, of course!” Lena jumps. “I’m sorry for holding you up.”

“It’s no problem, Miss Kieran.” And Kara knows that it’s already, like, 6:45, and Kara Danvers is due in Lena’s apartment in 15 minutes, so with a last _stay safe_ to the woman as Supergirl, she whizzes off and grabs the man tied to the pole and drops him in front of a police station with a note that Supergirl will be there to make a statement sometime tonight.

She’s just landed back inside her apartment when she feels her phone vibrate.

**Lena Kieran [6:52 PM]: **Where are you? I can go to your apartment instead.

**Kara Danvers [6:52 PM]:** no need, i’m almost there!

**Lena Kieran [6:52 PM]: **Are you sure? I’ll wait for you outside.

_She’s gonna wait for me outside her building? She almost got mugged!_

Kara hastes to brush her teeth and change her clothes as fast as she can (2 minutes), and finally flies off to Lena’s apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates might be... slower? I got deadlines :(


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena grow closer, more truths get uncovered, a new threat arrives in National City.

Lena is just outside her apartment building, wearing a long coat over her hoodie, shivering in the cold, when Kara arrives.

At the sound of footsteps on concrete, Lena snaps her head up.

“Kara!” she calls.

Kara waves at her. “Lena,” she says when she gets closer.

She doesn’t know what possesses her to do it, but when she walks within arm’s reach of Lena, Kara wraps her arms around the woman in a hug. She stiffens for a moment, but melts into it eventually.

(And _gosh_, what a feeling it is to have Lena Kieran mold herself to you.)

When Kara pulls away, she holds onto the woman’s arms.

“Did you get here okay?” Lena asks, eyes scanning her face.

“Yep,” she answers, then, “Did you?”

(She hopes Lena actually answers her truthfully, so Kara can find out if she actually _is_ okay.)

Lena tenses in front of her, and—_damn it_—steps away from her reach. “Uh, yeah,” she stammers. Her heartbeat—the one that Kara’s getting increasingly familiar with—races a little faster. Her hands retreat back into the pockets of her coat.

Kara thinks maybe she should let it go, but she asks again, “You okay?”

“Yep!” Lena says, trying to look better than she actually is (her heart is still going a mile a minute). “Let’s get inside, you must be freezing!”

Lena steps aside, to presumably let Kara walk in the building first, so she does. She looks over her shoulder as she walks through the doors though, and sees Lena scan the vicinity before actually following her inside.

“Um, the elevator’s broken, so we have to take the stairs?” Lena winces. “Sorry, I’ve been bugging the landlord to fix it. I might have to rope in the other tenants so he actually pays attention.”

“Oh, no problem!”

She leads Kara to the stairwell. “I live on the third floor, so it shouldn’t be that bad. Sorry, I forgot to tell you about the elevator.”

“It’s okay, I take the stairs all the time!”

They carry on climbing up the stairs, and Lena continues talking.

_ She’s rambling, _ Kara thinks, and she’s never known Lena as much of a talker, so she lets her, content on just listening.

“I just moved in a few weeks ago, so it’s a little… empty. But I actually bought a couch because you’re coming over? I needed one, anyway. I have a TV, but I don’t have cable, so I usually just hook it up to my computer and play Netflix. I have a few books scattered around because I forgot to buy bookshelves, so I’m sorry about the mess. Oh, we’re here.”

Lena’s talked herself up until they reach the door to her apartment, and she drives herself to a halt to pick out the key in her jeans pocket to unlock the door. She goes in to push the door open, and Kara follows behind.

And Lena’s apartment is… empty.

Well, it’s not _empty_, all the furniture that Lena’s mentioned is _there_. Her apartment is probably a third of the size of Kara’s, so it’s smaller, but with the teeny amount of belongings that Lena seems to own, the apartment is barely filled.

“Um, this is it,” Lena hesitates, turning around to face her.

Kara takes the entire place in—the first thing she sees is Lena’s work desk, which houses some sort of laptop setup that Kara doesn’t understand, a couch in the middle of the room, a coffee table in front of it, and a _really_ large TV.

There’s also a hardwood bed frame behind the door that Kara almost doesn’t notice, and Lena’s bed (which is just a mattress on the floor, with a side table towering over it) is on the other side of the room.

But the thing that stands out the most is that there aren't any boxes around at all.

(She remembers moving into her apartment, remembers having to make multiple trips from downstairs to her floor just to bring up her boxes at an acceptable human pace.

She also remembers forcing Alex to help her unpack. It was their first sisters night in National City.)

When Kara looks back at Lena after she takes in the entirety of the apartment, she’s managed to make herself look even _smaller_ in the already tiny apartment. She’s looking at Kara hesitantly, trying to gauge her reaction, so Kara picks out her next words very carefully:

“Where do you want your bed frame?”

//

Kara moves her bed frame with startling ease in a shockingly short amount of time.

Lena distinctly remembers the three burly men who half-dragged her bed frame up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, who looked about halfway to their death beds when they practically collapsed once they reached their destination—and she compares _that_ sight to Kara, who effortlessly carries her gargantuan bed frame to place, and doesn’t even break a single sweat.

She’s barely even peeled off her coat to help out the blonde before it’s already in place.

Kara twists around to show off her work, but the blonde’s eyes track down and she lets out a gasp.

Lena follows her eyes and sees the blossoming bruise on her forearm. Kara’s back in front of her in a flash, cradling her arm between them. “Do you have ice for this?” she asks, squinting at the marred flesh.

“Oh, um,” she stammers, “I’ve been using a bag of frozen vegetables. It’s in the freezer.”

She feels herself get pulled to the direction of her fridge, and Kara easily retrieves the bag of frozen vegetables (which has already been wrapped in a towel), and holds it in place against her bruise. She gets pulled again, but this time it’s to the couch, and Kara pulls her down to sit.

“Does it hurt?” Kara asks, trying to secure the icy bag onto her arm.

“It’s a little tender,” Lena answers truthfully. She suspects it to turn into a nasty purple in the coming days, but other than that, she doesn’t think it will have any lasting effects. “It’s fine.”

Kara looks up to meet her eyes, as if searching for something. For a while, Lena worries that she might ask where the bruise came from, and she wouldn’t know _what_ to say—she doesn’t want Kara to feel unsafe, or to worry about her (because Kara seems to be the type to worry a lot)—but Kara goes back to nursing the bag on her arm and doesn’t pry any further.

They stay like that for a few minutes, and Lena’s already starting to feel a little awkward. So she breaks the silence. “Do you, um, want to start with your thing?”

Kara looks at her. “My what?” Then her eyes widen, “oh, right!” She rummages in her pocket and produces a nondescript flash drive.

“What’s that?”

“The… the blueprints?”

Lena jumps up at that, the icy bag of vegetables falling to the couch. “Oh!” She grabs the flash drive from Kara’s hands and inspects it. “We can’t use this.” She pivots around and walks to her workspace and boots up her computer.

She feels Kara stumble after her. “What? Why?”

“The file might have a macro that traces its history. They could point it back to you.” She slides into her chair in practiced ease.

“Oh?”

Lena opens up her terminal and swivels her chair around to face Kara. They both recoil at their sudden close proximity. “Is—” she clears her throat “Is the file still in your CatCo email?”

“Yeah?”

She swivels back around to face her screens and types the appropriate commands.

“W-What are you doing now?”

“I’m opening a secure connection with the CatCo server so I can retrieve the file straight from there.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah, I configured it myself.”

“Is that… safe?”

Lena chuckles, because _duh, of course it is_. “Don’t worry, my IP address is the only one whitelisted. I made sure that the CatCo server is as safe as The Pentagon.” She can’t help the cocky smirk she sends Kara’s way.

Kara only blinks back. “That’s cool…”

“Yeah,” Lena says, offhandedly. She’s not showing off by any means, but she tends to blabber when she’s in the _zone_. A few commands later, and after waiting several seconds for the file to download into her computer, she’s opening up the LuthorCorp’s blueprints herself. “Oh,” she says, gazing at it. She’s never really looked so closely at it.

“There it is,” says Kara, eyes trained at the screen, too. “They say the malfunction stemmed from there.”

“Is there probable proof or is it because it’s manufactured by LuthorCorp?” Lena drawls, not meaning to sound as bitter as she is.

Kara tilts her head to look at her, sheepish. “It’s among the many theories.”

Lena hums, a bit unimpressed that Kara seems to believe it.

“But I don’t think it is,” the reporter continues. “My, uhm, cousin—he’s an investigative reporter at the Daily Planet, and he covered the Venture’s explosion. He got to interview Superman, and he mentioned that the explosion didn’t really look to have come from anywhere near it.”

Lena manages to stifle her flinch at the mention of Superman. “Oh?” she says. “Where did it come from, then?”

“From inside?” Kara answers, unsure and brows furrowing. “Or at least that’s what it _looked_ like. According to Superman.”

She wants to scoff, because, “What could have exploded from inside? All devices that go on a plane is regulated and inspected.”

Kara shrugs her shoulders. “Maybe whatever blew up wasn’t inspected.”

Lena turns her chair to fully face the reporter. “What are you getting at?”

“I don’t know. No one really knows _what_ caused the explosion, and the Venture pinning the blame on a part conveniently manufactured by the world’s most controversial company seems like a cover-up. It’s easy.”

“And what do _you_ think?” she challenges, because Lena knows that Kara’s on the verge of _something_ here, and just needs a little more push to get to it.

(She knows that she should drop the subject immediately—diving into what could possibly be Luthor business would only call for trouble, but she _can’t help it_. Can’t help but feel that whatever happened to the Venture is bigger than it actually is.)

Kara pauses, her eyes glaze over for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. “I think something was _supposed_ to explode in the Venture that day.”

“What, like a—_bomb_?” Lena splutters.

“Maybe.” She stands and looks around the apartment, and the reporter’s eyes catch on the windows. She walks over and draws it shut then twists around to look back at Lena. “Can you keep a secret?”

Lena’s spine stiffens. It’s never a good sign when someone says _that_. “It depends on what you’re about to tell me.”

The blonde looks at her for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. Then, “My sister works for the FBI.”

Lena’s jaw drops. She was not expecting _that_.

“They investigated the Venture explosion, too. Had resources that reporters didn’t have, you know? They got the seating plan, and one seat was empty.”

She feels the blood drain from her face. _Yeah_, she thinks, _my seat._

(She shouldn’t have pried any further.)

“There’s no name. It’s just—it just says _LuthorCorp Representative_.”

“So you think… someone from LuthorCorp planted a bomb on the Venture,” Lena manages to croak out.

Kara eyes flit around the room, looking deep in thought. “Maybe,” she says. “But it would look too obvious. And the Luthors are anything but obvious.”

The last sentence was spoken with a certainty that even Lena’s surprised at. “You… you seem to be familiar with them.”

Kara dips her heads then sends her a smile that almost looks… pained? “Yeah, um. Bad blood, I guess,” she mutters, avoiding her eyes.

Lena’s heart sinks. Everyone seems to have bad blood with the Luthors nowadays.

(She swallows down the little pang of hurt in her chest, blocks out the little voice in her head saying: _you’re a liar you’re a liar you’re a liar_.)

“Oh,” is all Lena can say.

Whatever look was on the reporter’s face, she manages to shake off. Then she’s back to being the bumbling Kara Danvers that Lena’s getting increasingly familiar with. “Anyway!” she says, marching back to settle behind Lena and lean forward on her table. She fixes her eyes on her screen with a resolve. “What do we do next?”

//

Lena insists on driving her home when they’re finished.

(She owns a bright blue minivan—a fact Kara is endlessly endeared by.

“It’s the cheapest car I could find,” Lena says as way of explanation. Kara still loves the fact that Lena’s car is vibrantly blue.)

“Thank you for helping me,” Kara says when they near her street.

She spies Lena glance shyly at her. “What are friends for?”

Kara grins. “You’re a great friend.”

She gets dropped off in front of her apartment building. She waits for Lena to round a corner before darting off into an alley to follow her above the clouds. She zooms back to her apartment when she sees Lena arrive home safely.

“Have a good evening?” someone says from her couch when she lands on her carpeted floor.

Kara’s heart jumps to her throat and she twists around to face the voice. “Alex!?”

Alex is there, sitting on her couch, casually sipping on a can of beer left over from game night. “Hey.”

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Kara shrieks, throwing her hands up in outrage. “I gave you that emergency key for _emergencies_!”

“No, you gave me that key so I’d stop kicking your door down. Besides, I had to pee.”

Kara looks incredulous. “And your apartment’s bathroom isn’t good enough?”

“I was gonna wait for you at the lobby,” she says, taking another sip at her beer. “But then I saw you fly off when you got out of that car. Cute minivan, by the way. Is it Lena’s?”

She narrows her eyes at her sister. “Yes.”

“It has a Metropolis plate.”

Kara hadn’t noticed that. “So? You gonna ask Winn to dig up information on that, too?”

Alex sighs, then places her beer down on the coffee table. She looks up at Kara, then pats the spot on the couch beside her. “Can you sit down, so we can talk? We didn’t really finish our last conversation on a good note,” she tells her.

Kara crosses her arms and turns away. “Yeah, well, I didn’t really feel _good_ about it.” She knows she’s being petty, but she’s a little hurt right now because she _specifically_ told Alex to _not_ run a background check on Lena, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

Alex sighs again and tips her head back until it rests on the back of the couch. She looks upside down at Kara. “Please?” she says, a pout forming on her mouth.

“Don’t do that, I’m still mad,” Kara says, her will wavering. She only looks at Alex through her peripheral.

“Sit down with me?” Alex continues, her bottom lip jutting forward.

“_Stoppit_.”

Alex widens her eyes a notch and she pinches her eyebrows, and, well, is it Kara’s fault that she eventually relents?

“Fine!”

(The _Danvers Pout_ still remains to be one of the most effective persuasion tactics, as it also crumbles Supergirl’s resolve.)

Kara marches over to the couch and unceremoniously drops beside her sister, refusing to uncross her arms. She still isn’t looking at Alex, and chooses instead to train her eyes on the condensing can of beer on her coffee table. _Darn it, Alex,_ she thinks, _when will you learn to use a coaster._

Through their, what Kara deems, Sisterly Telepathic Connection, Alex retrieves a hanky from her pocket and places it under her drink.

Kara’s posture relaxes. “Can I start?”

Alex brings her feet up the couch, crossing it on the cushions so she can fully face Kara. “Go ahead.”

“Why?”

Alex takes a deep breath, faces off into the distance to contemplate a careful answer. “I have a… paranoid streak,” she starts.

Kara snorts.

“It’s true!”

“_Yeah_, I know.”

“I’m _trained_ to be a little paranoid and meticulous,” Alex continues, “it’s why I’m a good agent. And Lena just happened to tick all my boxes.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Something seemed off about her,” she tries to explain. “She figured out how to incapacitate an Infernian under stress, it’s impressive but not unheard of, so I was just a little curious at first. But then she manages to lock Winn, who is literally the best that the DEO’s tech division can offer—don’t tell him I said that—out of CatCo.”

Kara only looks at her sister, still a little wary.

“Then you tell me that she hacked into _LuthorCorp_, which we haven’t even managed to do, sends you _confidential_ material, and all the while that’s actually just to _distract you_ while she also manages to provide crucial information for the DEO and NCPD to bust a highly exclusive and _illegal_ event.”

Kara slumps a bit, regretting just a little sharing that piece of information.

“Someone of her skillset could get a much better job at any tech company, so why be IT at CatCo, a media company?”

“Maybe she just needed the experience,” Kara unhelpfully supplies.

Alex ignores the comment. “Then it just piles up at game night. That whole part about her toys getting thrown out, the _not-having-enough-time-to-have-fun_ thing, and her _mother_, who she says is _still around_, but has actually been dead since _1997_.”

Kara slumps further into the couch, because Alex _did_ turn out to be right in the end—something is a little off with Lena—but it didn’t mean that what she did was right. “Still don’t like what you did,” she mumbles in her slouch.

Alex’s expression turns soft. “I’m a little protective of you, okay?” she says, leaning a little forward to get closer to her. “I’m not saying she’s a bad person, or that you should stay away from her. It just seems like you’re starting to really like her and I wanted to make sure that she’s not someone that can hurt you.”

“I can make that decision myself.”

“I know, that’s where I fucked up.”

Kara peers up at her. “Really? Not the part where you totally invaded her privacy?”

“No, it’s part of my job as a federal agent.”

Kara’s look turns into a tired glare.

“Okay fine, I got a little _too_ protective and the line between sister and agent blurred a little.”

Kara lets herself fall to her side, her head landing on Alex’s lap. All is forgiven now. “Good, just… don’t let it happen again. With Lena or any of my friends.”

“Duly noted.”

Kara hums, contented. “You still up for movie night?”

“Sure.”

//

Later, with _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_ playing on the TV, Alex speaks up. “You really like Lena, huh?”

Kara looks at her sister, a little surprised at the question. “Yeah,” she answers anyway.

Alex nods at that, then seems to go back to watching the movie. A few minutes pass, and she hears Alex mumble out a, “I really like Maggie, too.”

And that’s cool, Maggie’s a really good cop, and she works like a charm with Alex. “She’s really cool,” Kara honestly says.

A small smile blooms on Alex’s face, one that Kara hasn’t seen before. “Yeah, I think so, too.”

//

Kara’s text thread with Lena continues on through the weekend until Monday. They talk about nothing, and whatever they’re doing at the moment. Lena gets better at replying, and she even barraged her with messages once when she managed to encourage Lena to watch _The Force Awakens_ after finding out that she’s only watched the original trilogy.

Lena texts her reactions to her throughout the movie, and the spam of texts (complete with the occasional typo and emotional caps lock) comes when she watches a particularly harrowing scene.

** Lena Kieran [9:37 PM]: **Oh no

** Lena Kieran [9:38 PM]: **I have a feeling that he’s going to

** Lena Kieran [9:38 PM]: ** HE IDID

** Lena Kieran [9:39 PM]: **THEY REALLY KILLED HAM

** Lena Kieran [9:39 PM]: ** HAN

** Lena Kieran [9:40 PM]: ** why’d you make me watch this?

** Lena Kieran [9:42 PM]: ** I don’t like this Darth Vader wannabe

(There are several messages after that where Lena digs deeper into the psyche of Kylo Ren, and the structure of his lightsaber, which both baffles and amuses Kara, because _Lena’s such a nerd_.)

Monday arrives, and that means trying to get to CatCo before 9 AM.

Arriving early at CatCo also means _breakfast with Lena_, so when Kara wakes up at 8:22 AM after forgetting to turn on her alarm the night before, she goes through her morning routine in record time so she can still fly to the other side of the city to get the sandwich Lena’s mentioned once in their text conversations.

She’s halfway to the Bánh Mì place when she hears the distinguishable sound of tires skidding.

Good thing she’s already in her Supergirl suit, so she manages to stop a head-on collision between two trucks in a fraction of a second.

The truck drivers manage to assure her that they got the situation handled so she doesn’t have to bring either vehicle to their respective repair shop. Between that, making sure none of the bystanders are hurt, and inspecting the road for any serious damages, she’s already pushing her speed to the limit (without having to break the sound barrier) to clock in at CatCo without being recorded late.

She arrives at her office at 8:58 AM on the dot and checks her phone for the first time that day.

** Lena Kieran [8:16 AM]: **Good morning, Kara. :)

** Lena Kieran [8:24 AM]: **I got to the office early, do you want to have breakfast?

** Lena Kieran [8:47 AM]: **Looks like you’re running a little late. I left you two sandwiches on your desk :)

It’s the first time Kara notices the brown take out bag on her desk. She hastily reaches for it and finds two wrapped sandwiches. There’s a pen scrawl on each of the sandwich’s wrappings; one says _Chicken_ and the other is _Pork_.

A giddy bubble flares in her chest at the sight of them, and she sends Lena a text.

** Kara Danvers [8:59 AM]: **good morning and thank you!!!!

** Kara Danvers [8:59 AM]: **are u busy right now?? do u still have time to have breakfast with me??

** Lena Kieran [9:00 AM]: **I’m in the middle of something. Maybe lunch?

** Kara Danvers [9:00 AM]: **ok!!! i’m saving the other one for later :D

She starts her work day with a smile and a chicken sandwich.

//

Kara subconsciously counts down the seconds to her lunch break.

So, when she catches wind of a bank robbery happening just a street away from CatCo when she’s about to turn off her laptop for lunch, she feels a small simmer of disappointment and annoyance when she takes flight.

She drops onto the pavement outside the bank a little too harshly.

And a guy in a tacky ski mask points a shotgun at her.

_ Geeze, I almost feel bad for him, _she thinks.

“Don’t you guys ever learn? Bullets don’t work on me.”

“I’m glad I didn’t bring any bullets,” a voice behind her says.

She’s only just turned around when a purple beam gets shot straight to her chest and sends her crashing into a concrete sign.

_ What? _

Her comms flair to life. “_Supergirl? What’s going on?_” It’s Alex.

She doesn’t get to compose herself when she sees another beam coming right at her, and her only move is to boost up high. A boom reverberates on the ground, and there’s a hole in the pavement where she’s just been.

Her heat vision fires up, and she points her eyes on the distinctly not-a-human-gun on one of the robber’s hands. Her aim is accurate, but a blue force field materializes before it hits it target.

Her eyes widen when her heat vision gets blocked.

“_Back-up is on its way,_” Alex says through their comms.

“Their weapons can hurt me,” she says to Alex.

There’s a muffled curse from her sister. She dodges a beam, and flies out of sight of the robber shooting at her. “_Can you hold them off for a few minutes? We’re on our way,_” she hears her sister.

“I’ll try.”

Another one of the robbers shoots at her, but she doesn’t get to dodge it and ends up crashing face-first back on the ground.

_ Oof, I felt that one _. She groans, rolling over to her back. She’s only managed to regain her bearings when yet another beam gets blasted on her that sends her slamming against a concrete pillar. Her brain rattles from the force.

She vaguely hears Alex’s voice saying, “_Kara? We’re almost there, just hang on_” when she opens her eyes and sees the robber with the weird gun quickly advancing towards her. She barely even gets to blink before she’s staring straight down the barrel of the gun.

_ Oh, shoo— _

It feels like a grenade exploding right at her face, if Kara knew what that felt like. The force of the shot, partnered with its close proximity, makes her crash right through the pillar and into the building across the road. She probably passes out for a second, because now she’s lying in her small hole of rubble.

Her vision swims when she opens her eyes, but she still recognizes the vague shapes of heads peeking in her line of sight. One of the heads are closer than the rest, and maybe that one’s talking to her, but she’s not sure because there’s a ringing in her ears.

Whoever’s right in front of her keeps opening and closing their mouth, but she can’t make out their words.

“Wha…” she tries to say, before dropping her head back on the ground and passing out.

//

Lena worries her bottom lip at the sight of her unanswered texts.

Kara’s usually the most attentive replier, she almost always seems to have her phone on hand save for when she’s asleep or eating.

So, when her texts asking Kara if she’s ready to go get lunch gets left unanswered, she’s wondering if maybe she’s forgotten about their plans, or if she’s just buried in her work.

Both seem highly unlikely, considering Kara’s enthusiasm for food. She doesn’t strike Lena to be the type to miss a meal for any reason.

Despite that, she makes her way to Kara’s office.

_It had occurred to her that morning, when she wanted to drop off food for Kara, that she had no idea where her desk was. So she asked Eve. The assistant led her to an office near the reporters’ bullpen. It was small, reclusive, and window-less, but an office nonetheless._

_“Kara has an office?” Lena asked, surprise laced in her voice._

_She’s been growing familiar with the employees at CatCo, and she knew that none of the cub reporters even had their own desk at the bullpen, let alone an entire office to themselves._

_“Ms. Grant gave it to her when she promoted her,” Eve explained._

_“When she promoted her to reporter?”_

_“When she promoted her,” Eve corrected. “Ms. Grant let her choose a position.”_

_Lena jaw almost dropped—almost._

_But Eve still managed to catch the surprise in her look, and laughed. “Kara’s sort of a favorite.”_

_And Lena was also getting increasingly familiar with Cat Grant herself. The CEO always presents herself as a figure high above; unreachable, unattainable, and most of all, distant. But it seems she has a soft side for a certain reporter._

_ I can’t really blame her, Lena thought to herself. She’s always thought of Kara as the easiest person to like, so for a person as high-strung as Cat to take a liking to her—it shouldn’t be so far off the realm of possibility._

She tries to knock first, and when there’s no response, she tries the door knob.

It’s unlocked, so she carefully pushes it open a crack, and calls, “Kara?”

No one answers.

She pushes it open wider, and is greeted with a completely lit and empty office. Her eyes flit over the entire room, and lands on the still on laptop on the desk, and next to it, the brown paper bag she left a few hours ago.

Lena wanders into the reporters’ bullpen, hoping to find Kara there, but finds almost everyone gathered around the television in the middle of the room. James towers over most of them.

She hesitates at first, but she approaches the photographer. “James?”

James turns around and finds her. “Lena, hey. What’s up?”

“Have you seen Kara?”

“Uh… doing the—being a reporter, you know?” His eyes travel back to the TV, then to her. “She heard about the bank robbery and rushed in.”

A _boom_ sounds from the TV, and both Lena and James twists around to look at it. It’s a shaky footage of a bank robbery, and it’s live. Supergirl is in the air, using her heat vision, but whatever, or whoever, she’s shooting at is being protected by a blue force field.

Lena’s eyes widen, and she walks towards the television, hoping to get a closer look. _What could possibly be strong enough that even concentrated solar energy couldn’t penetrate it?_

“Kara’s _there_?” she asks, unable to hide the horrified tone in her voice. _Why_ does Kara have to rush in the danger _while it’s still happening_?

The camera follows Supergirl, who crashes into the pavement, and Lena scans the surroundings of the area to the best of her ability, with the limited angle she’s shown. She sees no sign of the reporter.

“I’m sure she’s—” Supergirl gets shot to the pillar “—staying a safe distance away,” James tries to reassure her, but the tone of his voice does nothing to ease Lena.

Then Supergirl gets blasted into the building a road over and the entire room gasps.

The camera stays on the hole in the building’s wall, but Supergirl doesn’t emerge. On the corner of the screen is the reporter on the scene, and she informs the audience that the robbers have fled. When black vans arrive near the building Supergirl crashed into, the TV switches to the channel’s newsroom.

The crowd around the TV disperses, the action finished, but Lena still hangs on to the news’ every word.

It’s only when a news anchor reports “…_paramedics have been deployed to the scene, but bystanders only sustained minor injuries at most_…” that Lena manages to release a sigh of relief.

_ Kara’s fine. _

She’s about to send Kara another text to ask how she is, when the lights flicker on and off, and TV glitches to display a crudely computer-generated face animation, that roars in a robotic voice:

_ “You were warned. The alien invaders are dangerous. Their intentions malicious. They possess power we cannot hope to match. And their technology, brought from other worlds, is falling in the wrong hands.” _

The video displays a montage of news clips, and she flinches when she sees a snippet of the Infernian at the Alien Amnesty Act signing.

_ “We should not be opening our arms to them. We should be locking them up and taking their weapons away. You did not heed us, but you will heed the chaos that amnesty has brought. You will pay the price in fear and blood. And you will beg us to save you. We are Cadmus.” _

The lights flicker back on, the TV returns to its regular broadcast, the bullpen bursts in action around her.

And a cold weight drops down Lena’s spine.

_ Fuck. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lena splurges on certain things. Particularly, technology and alcohol.
> 
> Things start happening!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena has a plan.

Kara wakes up and almost crashes through the roof of a DEO van.

“Woah!”

A hand reaches out to stop her, and she recognizes Alex’s voice.

“Alex!” She whips her head around to face her sister. “What happened!?”

Concern etches her features, and she’s gently pushed to lie back down. “You don’t remember?”

“I do!” She tries to stand up, but her legs feel a bit like goo. “The—the robbers, they have those guns?”

Alex pushes her back down. “Yeah, and they kinda kicked your ass.”

Kara groans. “Did they get away?”

Her sister looks at her pitifully.

“Darn it.” Alex pats her arm. “How long was I out?”

“Just a couple of minutes. We just picked you up.”

“Oh shoot!” Kara shoots up. “I was supposed to have lunch with Lena!” She scrambles for her phone hidden in her suit’s pocket (still in pristine condition despite the smackdown she’s just received, thanks to the material upgrades Winn put on it).

She ignores Alex’s _“Kara, you just got shot multiple times with an alien gun”_ and looks through her notifications.

** Lena Kieran [12:02 PM]:  ** Just finished up. Are you all set for lunch?

** Lena Kieran [12:07 PM]:  ** Kara?

** 1 Missed Call for Lena Kieran **

** Lena Kieran [12:23 PM]:  ** James just told me you were at the bank robbery with Supergirl.

** Lena Kieran [12:24 PM]:  ** Are you alright?

“Shoot, I gotta get to CatCo,” Kara worries, already typing up a reply.

“You can’t,” Alex says. Kara’s turns to her sister, about to protest, when Alex continues, “Something else happened while you were out.”

//

“Kinda suspicious that Cadmus releases a new video just as these new alien guns appear.” 

Kara hums, nods.

“The working theory is that Cadmus is providing the weapons to cause panic.”

“CatCo’s probably going haywire over this. I gotta get there, try to put a handle on the story they’re gonna put out,” Kara says.

“Good idea,” Alex agrees.

Kara glances on her phone, hoping to see a reply from Lena to her haste apology for missing lunch. There’s none. She lets out a deep sigh.

When she arrives at CatCo, she goes straight to James.

“James!”

“Kara,” he says, relief flooding his voice at the sight of her. “I saw the fight, are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she brushes off. “How is it?”

“Snapper already called a meeting, I intervened I best as I could, but he wants to see you.”

She’s about to turn to head over to her Editor-In-Chief’s office, but backtracks back to James. “Wait, have you seen Lena?”

“She was looking for you a while ago.”

Kara nods, thanks James, and sends her friend a text while she makes her way to Snapper’s office.

** Kara Danvers [1:32 PM]:  ** just got back at catco. sorry again for missing lunch :( can i see you?

“Ponytail!”

Kara startles at the voice.

“Where have you been?”

“Sorry! I was at the—at the bank robbery,” she explains hastily.

Snapper sneers at her. “Well, you missed a meeting.”

“Sorry,” she apologizes again. “Is it about the video? I can write an article on it, get a quote from Supergirl, too.”

“You’re in charge of the article on the robbery, but I want you to write an opinion piece about the video too.”

“Me? Really?”

“We’re printing a pros-con, let the people see both sides. I know you’re pro-alien, and you have your connections on it. You’re perfect for the job.”

Kara stares, stunned. “Really?” It’s the best she can do, as far as trying to sway public opinion goes.

“I want the first draft on my desk before the day ends.”

She immediately scrambles to get started.

//

Kara checks her phone for the nth time that day, hoping for a reply from Lena to magically appear on her phone.

She’s been minimizing the texts she’s been sending, thinking that maybe Lena’s just busy, and her last text had been to ask her if she’s up to getting dinner together to make up for the missed breakfast and lunch. But it’s been an hour since she asked and there’s still no reply.

She’s already done with her bank robbery article, and halfway through her opinion piece, with about two hours left to go before the day ends, so she decides to visit Lena’s desk.

She sees the distinctly empty seat just as she exits the elevator, but she approaches it still. The monitors are turned off and there’s no bag slung over the chair.

_ Did she go home? _ She’s about to give up when she sees Eve walk by.

“Eve!”

“Kara!”

“Have you seen Lena? The IT person sitting here?”

Eve look shifts to concern. “She had a meeting with Cat then left early. I think she wasn’t feeling well, she looked a little pale.”

Kara frowns, _and Lena didn’t tell her?_ “Thanks, Eve.”

Eve smiles at her and goes back to her desk, and Kara’s already pulling out her phone to call Lena.

It rings for several moments and goes straight to voicemail.

“Hey, Eve told me you left early. Just wanted to make sure you’re feeling okay,” she says into her phone. “Anyway, um, call me? Or text me. Whatever’s more convenient for you.”

Her shoulders slump a little while she makes her way back to her office to finish her articles.

//

Kara paces the length of the DEO control room. She’s been at it for several minutes, or maybe hours.

Alex, who is in a bit of a stalemate on their current situation, and also stuck on waiting for Winn’s progress on tracking the alien guns, watches her sister from her spot leaning on the central desk. Every few rounds, Kara would glance down at the phone in her hands.

Alex decides to try something. “Kara.” Her sister stops in her tracks, looking at her. “C’mere.”

Kara approaches the desk, tosses the phone on top of it, folds her arms and leans forward. She brings a hand out to press the home button on her phone to light up the screen, and the telltale crinkle appears between her eyes.

“Are you… waiting for a call?”

Kara looks up, the crinkle still there. “What?”

Alex points at her phone. “You seem a little distracted.”

She looks back down, her phone’s screen still lit up. “Oh. Um, it’s nothing.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Alex is unconvinced. Kara looks back down on her phone, picking it up with both hands to type something. She places it back down afterwards, and when it vibrates after a few seconds, she picks it back up and groans.

“The signal is acting up again,” she complains.

“Oh, that’s my fault,” Winn pipes up from one of the computers. “I adjusted our antennas, it might’ve messed up—”

“Can you fix it?”

Winn startles at the almost annoyed tone to her voice, and Alex can’t help but be a bit surprised by it, too. “Uh, yeah,” he stammers. “Just give me a few minutes.”

“Signal’s better by the balcony,” Alex suggests, and Kara nods, not taking her eyes off her phone, and stalks off to the balcony. They watch her walk away.

“Is she okay?” Winn asks once Kara’s a considerable distance away.

Alex shrugs.

“Is she still mad about…” Winn pauses.

Alex furrows her eyebrows. Is she? “I’m gonna go find out.”

Kara’s frowning at her phone when Alex gets to her. She waits for her to notice that she’s there, leaning against the balcony railings and crossing her arms. When it becomes obvious that Kara’s entire attention is on the device on her hands, Alex clears her throat.

Kara looks up, unsurprised, but looking a little annoyed. “Is there any progress with Winn?” she asks.

“Nope.” Kara goes back to tinkering on her phone. Curious, Alex tries to peek at the screen, and only manages to see _Lena_ when Kara’s closing the app. Alex looks back up at her sister, and sees her looking at her accusingly.

“Can I help you?”

“Can I help _you_?” Alex counters. “You’ve been distracted since you got here.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Is it about the robbers? You know we’ll catch them, Winn just needs some more samples to figure out how to disable the guns.”

“It’s not about the robbers—”

“Then what is it?”

Kara throws her head back, dropping her arms at her sides, and lets out a loud groan.

“Is it about… Lena?” Alex tries.

Kara’s shoulders drop. “I missed breakfast _and_ lunch with her. And now she’s not replying to any of my texts.”

Understanding dawns on Alex.

“Then Eve told me she wasn’t feeling well and went home early. Without telling me!”

Alex smiles sympathetically. “I’m sure she’s fine,” she tries to reassure, but Kara still looks worried, glancing down her phone every few seconds, and it does nothing to dissuade her of the growing theory in her head, that _maybe_, just _maybe_, Kara likes Lena Kieran more than she lets on (like _maybe_ how she’s starting to like Maggie, too—but those are thoughts for another time). “Have you tried… listening for her?”

Kara nods, sheepish. “I try not to, I was just worried when Eve told me she looked sick.”

“And?”

“She sounds fine.”

“See? She’s probably just tired. You’ll see her at work tomorrow.”

She sighs, body relaxing. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“Not _always_.” Kara rolls her eyes. “How’s Winn on tracking the alien guns?”

“We have close to nothing. The robbers have been laying low since the bank, and we’ve got mostly nothing to go off on. We’re just waiting for them to surface again.”

Kara’s phone chimes in her hand. She scrambles for it, but she just squints at the screen, the furrow in her brow growing. “Well, we might not wait for much longer,” she says, turning her phone to face Alex.

Alex looks at the screen, and it’s an email, with the subject header: _CatCo Charity Auction_.

//

Kara gets to CatCo the next day earlier than expected.

(To see Lena, _and_ hopefully talk to Ms. Grant about the gala—about how bad of an idea it might be.)

But when she gets to the CEO’s floor, Lena’s desk is still distinctly devoid of _Lena_.

She resists the urge to send another text message or leave another voicemail, she’s probably flooded the woman’s phone by how much she’s sent yesterday.

Cat swoops in from her private elevator, and the bullpen quiets down.

Kara immediately follows after her. She pins Eve down with a look when the assistant tries to stop her.

“Ms. Grant!”

“Kiera, you couldn’t even wait before I had my morning coffee?”

“It’s important.”

Cat peers at her from above her sunglasses. “Shut the door and sit down.”

Kara closes the door behind her, but doesn’t wait to sit down before she starts. “You can’t go on with the auction.”

Cat looks unsurprised. “And why not?” she asks, voice cool.

“There’s a gang—did you see the bank robbery yesterday?”

Cat gives her a look that says  _what do you think?_

“National City’s rich and powerful are going to be there, and with the gang still at large, they might target them!”

“And what, I should just _reschedule_ charity? Kids are starving, Kiera.”

“It’s—it’s not safe!” Kara splutters.

“Well, I’m sure _Supergirl_ would be there.”

Kara gapes. “But—but—”

“The charity auction _will_ go on, Kiera. Now, will I see you there?”

Kara slumps her shoulders, defeated. “Yes.”

“Good. Is that all?”

Kara fiddles with her fingers. “Um, can I ask you something?”

Cat gestures for her to continue.

“You had a—meeting? With your IT yesterday… Her name is Lena. Eve told me she went home early afterwards and she hasn’t been responding to my texts or calls so I was just wondering if she looked okay? While you were talking to her? Eve said she looked sick—”

“Breathe, Kiera.”

Kara shuts up.

“What’s your business with my IT personnel?”

“No, nothing, she’s just my—friend.” Cat’s eyebrows raise. “And I’m just… worried. I haven’t heard from her since yesterday.”

Cat hums, tilting her head to the side and studiously squinting at her. “I see,” she says. She continues looking at her, or behind her, Kara doesn’t know, but it starts getting unnerving when several seconds pass. “She did look sick, so I sent her home early.”

“Oh.”

“But she did inform me that she will be making an appearance at the event tonight.”

Kara perks up. “She will?”

“Yes. Now, is that all?”

“Oh!” Kara shoots up to her feet. “Yes, that’s all! Thank you for your time, Ms. Grant!”

Cat swats her away, and Eve is already impatiently waiting by the door, so Kara quickly takes her leave.

(She can still feel Cat’s eyes on her when she leaves the office, and she almost misses the small murmur of _“Interesting…”_ that comes out of Cat when she walks out.)

//

** Kara Danvers [9:43 AM]: ** i hope you’re feeling better

** Kara Danvers [12:10 PM]:  ** i’m having lunch!! don’t forget to eat :)

** Kara Danvers [1:32 PM]: ** someone bought a box of donuts and i got the last chocolate sprinkles!

Lena only gets the chance to turn on her that late afternoon, and winces at the multitude of unanswered texts. There are still a lot more from yesterday, but she only reads the more recent ones that Kara sent.

(It’s odd, being greeted with over 20 messages from the same person just worrying about you.)

** Lena Kieran [5:02 PM]:  ** I’m feeling much better now

_ That’s an okay reply, right? _ Her phone buzzes when a text comes in.

** Kara Danvers [5:03 PM]:  ** lena!!!! are you feeling okay???

** Lena Kieran [5:03 PM]:  ** Yes, just had a little cold

** Kara Danvers [5:03 PM]: ** oh, ok. you’re doing fine now? have you eaten??

** Lena Kieran [5:04 PM]:  ** I ate lunch :)

“Lena.”

Lena turns around and sees Cat Grant emerge, a large box in hand. “Cat, you’re here early.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re setting everything up alright.” Her eyes land on the device sitting on a tabletop behind her. “Is that it?”

Lena nods.

“You’re lucky Maxwell Lord left me a bulk of his warehouses when he left National City.”

“We’re lucky he actually had anything useful there,” Lena counters. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

Cat eyes her up and down. “It’s my reputation on the line if this doesn’t work,” she says, “and I hope you know what you’re risking by doing this.”

Lena turns around to tinker with the device. “It doesn’t matter,” she sighs, resolute.

Cats tuts, then walks to stand beside her. “It matters if it will harm my employees.”

“It’s going to work.”

“How are you so sure?”

“I—” Lena takes a deep breath. “The guns looked familiar. There’s a black market for alien technology, and Lex knew about it. He acquired some a while back and I looked through his notes. I know how to stop it.”

“And you have access to his private research?”

“He used the LuthorCorp servers to store it.”

“Well, _that’s_ not dangerous.”

“I’m good at what I do,” Lena argues.

“I’ve no doubt about it, why do you think I’m trusting you?”

Lena sighs. “Then what are you doing here?”

“Your friend came looking for you. Kara Danvers.”

Lena looks up at Cat, schooling her expression. She shouldn’t be surprised, what with the texts from Kara’s been sending her. “She did?”

“Yes. She was quite worried. She can’t wait to see you later.”

“Wait, she’s _going_ to the auction?”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“What?” Lena stammers. “No, nothing’s wrong with that.”

A blush creeps up Lena’s neck at her slip up, and she sees Cat look at her with an arched brow. “That girl can take care of herself just fine.”

“Right,” Lena says. To be fair, Kara runs head-first into danger enough as it is, so is her concern really unfounded? But then again, with the amount of recklessness Lena has witnessed so far, Kara’s happy and healthy state is evidence enough that she can protect herself.

“She’s more capable than you think.”

Lena continues to tinker with the device, but can still feel the weight of Cat’s gaze on her.

“You’re worried about her,” Cat observes. “You two are close?”

“We’re friends.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Cat hums. “She was more than a little frazzled when she told me that she hasn’t heard from you since yesterday.”

Guilt washes over Lena. “I was a little preoccupied.” Cat looks unimpressed. “I already told her I’m fine.”

“Good,” Cat says. Then after a while, “She’s _something_, isn’t she?”

The question catches Lena off guard. “I guess? She’s—nice.” Lena blinks. “It’s very hard not to like her. You would know. I hear she’s a favorite.”

“Oh, hush,” Cat replies. “She’s been my most competent assistant, and as a responsible mentor, I can’t keep holding her down on that position.”

“You’re nothing if not fair, I’m sure,” Lena drawls, but the truth is, she kind of admires that Cat’s taken Kara under her wing; she’s a self-made woman, she knows what it’s like to be at the bottom.

Cat hums in acknowledgement. “Well, I trust that you have everything under control. I have to go and prepare.” She places the box she’s been holding on the table near the device. “And this is for you.”

“What is that?”

“See for yourself.” And with that, Cat turns and leaves.

Lena watches her leave, then eyes the box on the table. She drags it over in front of her and lifts the lid to take a peek inside for its contents.

It’s a dress.

//

“Tell me why I have to bring _him_ instead of you, again?” Kara grits out through her comms.

Winn’s voice replies,  _“Because he’s getting a bit of cabin fever. And he likes parties, he’s good at them. He’ll blend in just find there.”_

Kara groans, watching Mon-El fiddle with his tie. “And you can’t find him a job yet?”

_ “He doesn’t really have a… skillset. Other than being extraordinarily strong.” _

Kara tries her best to not roll her eyes, so instead she looks around the venue and the sea of people around her. “He likes partying and drinking, right? How about at a bar?”

_ “That’s not a bad idea, actually. I’ll look into it. What does Mon-El think about that?” _

Mon-El is still fiddling with his tie, muttering something about uncomfortable neck ropes, when Kara turns at him. “Hey, Mon-El,” she calls, “what do you think about working at a bar?”

“A bar?”

“Yeah, where we get drinks. You know, alcohol.”

“Ah, yes, a bar! Fine establishments.”

“Yeah, Winn, I think he’ll be fine working at a bar,” Kara responds through her comms. She turns back to Mon-El. “You know how to mix drinks, right?”

“How hard could it be?” He flashes her a grin.

Kara wouldn’t know, she doesn’t exactly drink. “Right. Anyway, Winn, explain how your device works again.”

_ “You’ll hear a low beeping noise and it’ll vibrate if you’re in proximity of any alien gun.” _

“What’s the radius of this thing?”

_ “It should cover the entire venue if you stay near the stage. I have a drone flying above, too, so I can alert you of any suspicious vehicles that might drive by.” _

Kara looks up, seeing the drone flying several meters above. “So all we have to do is wait?”

_ “Yep.” _

“Alright. Thanks, Winn.” She looks back to Mon-El. “Hey, I have to move near the stage. You can mingle around, just don’t cause any trouble. If anyone asks, you’re here with me, and your name is _Mike_.”

“Got it!” he salutes.

Kara’s making her way to the stage when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. She scrambles for it and sees a text from Lena.

** Lena Kieran [7:12 PM]:  ** Are you at the venue?

** Kara Danvers [7:12 PM]: ** i’m here! where are you? :D

Kara stops a waiter carrying some fish entrée and manages to snag a couple before she sets about to scan the crowd. She looks over at Mon-El for a moment and sees him chatting up Eve near the bar, but other than that, nothing seems to stand out.

She sees James arrive in a tailored suit and calls him over.

“James!”

“Kara, hey!” He makes his way over to her. “I talked to Winn. You’re expecting a special appearance tonight?”

“Yup. He made a device that’ll alert me if any of them are close. Now I’m just waiting.”

“So you’re here on official business, then?”

“Pretty much.” Kara trails off, eyes continuing to scan the crowd.

“Looking for anyone?” James asks, noticing her drifting attention.

“Oh, uh—” Kara’s head turns, catching sight of a head of dark hair, but it only turns out to be Beth from Accounting. She turns back to James. “Did you see Lena when you got in?”

One of James’ eyebrows raises. “I haven’t seen her since the other day, why?”

Kara quells down the tinge of disappointment that bubbles up in her chest. “Oh, okay. I think she’s here but I can’t really find her.”

“I’m sure she’s around, mingling.”

“Right, yeah,” Kara says, frowning. Lena doesn’t really seem like the type to _mingle_.

A silence passes over them while Kara continues to look through the forming crowd of people, with James seeming to be content to just stand beside her.

James suddenly perks up, squinting at something across the room. “You brought _Mon-El_ here?”

“Yeah, is he causing trouble?”

“He just snatched a whole tray of oysters from a waiter.”

Kara whips her head around, looking over at the direction of the wayward alien. Sure enough, Mon-El is holding an entire tray of oysters. He bites through one of the oyster’s shells like a cookie, and Kara winces.

James also winces beside her. “I’m gonna go and, uh… are you okay here?”

“I’ll be fine. I need to stay close to the stage.”

“Alright, I’ll go and keep him company.”

“Thanks, James.”

James squeezes his way through the crowd to get to Mon-El, and Kara watches him pry the tray of oysters from his hand, giving it back to a waiter that just happened to pass by, who double takes on the halved oyster shell and Mon-El.

Satisfied that Mon-El is sufficiently being babysat for the remainder of the night, Kara turns her attention back to the crowd, half hoping to see that familiar head of black hair, and half trying not to look too suspicious as she trains her senses on the device in her dress pocket.

The first sign of trouble comes just when Cat climbs up the stage to introduce the charity auction. The device in Kara’s pocket flares to life and she scans around the venue’s vicinity and spots the white van that just parked right outside the entrance.

“_I got the ping, they’re there,_” Winn voices through the comms.

“I see them,” Kara replies.

She super-speeds underneath one of the tables where she’s tucked her supersuit in, and hurries to change. She returns just in time when the robbers enter the venue, alien guns drawn out.

“I’m gonna keep this real simple, people!” the ring leader announces, brandishing his clunky alien gun. “Hand over every ring, pearl, diamond, watch, wallet, and no one gets disintegrated!”

Kara lands in front of them, the ground shaking when she does. “Did you really think I wouldn’t be here?”

The leader smirks. “Actually,” he starts, heaving his gun up, and Kara braces, “I was counting on it.”

She fires her heat vision at the exact moment the robber presses the trigger, the two beams colliding in a flash of light. Distracted, she misses another one of the goons firing at her, sending her crashing onto the ground, concrete cracking around her.

Kara takes a second to survey her surroundings, before she launches herself into the air, picking out the robbers from above with her heat vision.

Amidst the chaos, she’s thankful when she sees James and Mon-El leading the guests towards the exit, glad to only have to worry about subduing the threat without the risk of collateral. One of the robbers, however, steer too close to the crowd, alien gun out. She sees Mon-El attempt to intervene, but only ends up getting hit with a bright blue beam that sends him crashing on the tower of champagne glasses.

A woman breaks through the crowd, racing across the venue towards the opposite direction of the exit and towards the stage. One of the robbers catches wind of her and starts raising his gun, so Kara speeds to place herself between them, bracing herself. The purple beam hits her square in the chest and sends her flying backwards, knocking against the woman.

“Supergirl!” she hears a familiar voice shout.

She breaks out of her haze and sees Lena, looking at her with wide eyes. “Lena?”

“Lights out, Supergirl,” a menacing voice sounds above them, and she whips her head around to see three of the robbers in front of them, all of their alien guns lit up to fire.

She barely manages to shout “Run!” when she’s firing up her heat vision, colliding with the beam of the three alien guns. She only prays that Lena actually up and got away from the danger because she can feel the energy in her heat vision waver with overuse, and it only just about flickers out when suddenly the guns are wretched out of the robbers’ hands, flying above their heads and exploding into debris.

“_What the heck?_” Winn’s voice breaks through the comms. “_The signal just blipped out. What happened?_”

“I-I don’t…” Kara sputters, looking up at the sky, but seeing no sign of the weapons.

“_I’m also getting a few trace amounts of black body radiation, what the heck is happening?_”

From beyond the robbers, she sees Lena crawl out from under the stage, trying to act nonchalant as she dusts of her dress, but she catches her eyes and she freezes.

Kara squints, and looks through the stage’s curtains with her x-ray vision, spotting a strange device underneath. “What…?” she mumbles, trying to connect the dots. She shifts her gaze towards Lena, who’s starting to grow red, her face contorting into a guilty, sheepish expression.

She sees Lena eye the exit behind her, no doubt wanting to leave, so Kara forces herself up to her feet. She superspeeds to grab a long table cloth from one of the tables and ties them around all the robbers. “Winn, can you guys handle bringing the robbers in?”

“_The NCPD is on their way. It’s more their jurisdiction, really._”

Satisfied, she switches her comms off and races after Lena, who’s scrambling towards the exit, with a human’s pace. “Ms. Kieran!” Kara calls after her. She manages to catch up to her using her regular human speed, and places herself in front of her, effectively blocking her path. “May I have a moment to speak with you?”

Lena’s face twists into an almost pained expression, and Kara thinks she’s about to decline, when she fervently whispers, “Can we not do this here?”

“I can take us anywhere.”

//

Anywhere turns out to be the rooftop of Lena’s apartment building.

“Was anyone hurt,” Lena demands once they land, voice and feet trembling once it touches the ground.

“No,” Kara reassures. “Everyone was gotten to safety.”

A huge weight looks to ebb away from Lena’s shoulders, and she teeters until she’s leaning against an exposed pipe, head buried in her hands. Kara gives her the time, and once she recovers, what she says is, “I live here. This is my apartment building.”

“Yes, it’s only a few streets away from where I saved you from that thug.”

Lena looks up at her in surprise. “You remember that?” she mumbles, mostly to herself. “I mean, of course you remember that. You even remember my name.”

“I remember everyone,” she tells her. “I even remember little Giselle when she dropped her spelling book down a grate two weeks ago.”

“Oh.”

They regard each other in silence for a while, mostly Kara giving Lena the chance to figure out what to say. When it becomes obvious that Lena won’t be starting, it’s Kara who begins.

“You knew how to stop the robbers, with that device.”

Lena laughs, but it’s forlorn, dipping her head down. “I guess there’s no use denying it and giving Cat Grant all the credit?”

“I saw you running towards the stage, then climbing out of it.”

Lena sighs.

“Why did you do it?”

Lena whips her head up. “Why_ shouldn’t_ I?” she rebutts, with more malice than necessary.

It’s odd, Kara thinks, when she recognizes the fire of obligation and responsibility in Lena’s eyes, the same one she feels whenever she puts on her suit.

“I’m not saying that you shouldn’t,” Kara counters, tone gentle to ease her, “I’m only asking why you feel the need to.”

“Because I didn’t see any reason _not_ to.”

_ Well, that’s fair _ , Kara thinks. “You took a great risk,” she tries to reason.

“Some risks are necessary,” Lena answers, “and I’m very confident in my abilities.”

“Enough to risk the lives of people?”

Lena pauses, hesitates, before she answers, resolutely, “Yes.”

Kara considers her for a moment, trying to gauge her, but Lena only stares right at her, jaws clenched. “Okay,” she says, finally.

“Okay? That’s all you have to say?”

“You feel the need to help. I feel that, too. I know enough that I can’t stop you.”

Lena’s jaw slackens.

“I would appreciate being warned next time, though.”

“I…” Lena sputters, “I wouldn’t know how to reach you.”

Kara flashes her a grin. “Just call for me. I’ll hear you.” She lifts herself off the ground a few feet, and Lena backtracks a few steps, gasping. “Sorry,” she says, sheepish. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No,” Lena hurries. “It’s just—different. Seeing you up close.”

A blush makes its way up Kara’s face. “Shall I bring you to your window, Ms. Kieran?”

“Lena. Call me Lena, please.”

“Can I bring you to your window, Lena?”

Lena shakes her head. “No, I can make my own way here. The landlord never locks the rooftop door.”

“Alright,” Kara relents. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“Good night, Supergirl.”

“Good night, Lena.”

And with that Kara flies off into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, this took a while. Mostly because I was wholly unsatisfied with my own plot, but I'm tired and sleep-deprived so I'm posting this anyway!!! No proof-reading here!!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winn once again cannot catch a break, plans are hatched, and some things come to light.

Kara lands at the DEO after talking to Lena, and she’s immediately bombarded by Winn. “Not here,” she cuts off before he even gets the chance to start. “Call Alex and we’ll talk at Training Room 3.”

She drags him off to the aforementioned room while he taps on his tablet, and Alex arrives in no time.

“You were supposed to report back _immediately_,” is what Alex says first, eye flaring, and storming towards them.

“It’s why I called you both here!” Kara explains, arms flailing. “Lena stopped the guns.”

“_Excuse me_?”

“Black body radiation!” Winn gasps. “It can absorb the electromagnetic radiation from the weapons if you have a generator that’s calibrated correctly!”

Alex raises an arm up, effectively quieting Winn. “Okay, this is too much, Kara. We need to bring her in.”

Kara’s jaw drops, incredulous. “What!?”

Winn agrees, nodding enthusiastically. “Her knowledge can be a great asset to us!”

Kara doesn’t believe that that’s all to it. “So you just want to bring her in to _help us_, because her _knowledge could be a great asset_, and not to _investigate_ her?”

Winn grimaces, and is about to reason out to her when Alex cuts him off,“She _knows_ things, Kara. What exactly, we don’t know,” Alex says.

“Those are not enough grounds to bring someone in and you _know_ that.”

“She could be a threat—”

“You promised you wouldn’t do this!” Kara interrupts her. “That you’d stop blurring the lines between agent and sister! This is what you’re doing right now!”

“I’m not—” Alex says, pinching the bridge of her nose. “She interrupted an organized operation.”

“She didn’t _interrupt_, she _helped_. And she _stopped_ the threat!”

“She still needs to be brought in for questioning!”

“No, she doesn’t!” Kara tells her, volume rising. “This operation doesn’t even fall in DEO jurisdiction, Winn said so!”

Alex whips her heads towards the aforementioned man, who just squeaks in response.

“And she’s _human_!” Kara continues, almost shouting, and Alex startles. “You have no right to detain her, and even if you did, she’s not doing anything _wrong_.”

Caught off guard by Kara’s outburst, Alex raises her hands up in defense. “Alright, alright. I’m not gonna bring her in.”

Kara crosses her arms, giving Alex a pointed look.

“Look, I’m not gonna apologize for looking out for you.” Kara glares at her harder, and Alex sighs in defeat. “Okay, maybe I’m still working on separating being an agent and being a sister. But it’s still my responsibility to _protect you_ either way.”

Kara huffs, teeters back to lean against the wall, and the room vibrates with the force of her impact. All three occupants wince.

“I have to look out for Supergirl when she’s on the field,” Alex continues, when the room stops vibrating, “and I have a responsibility to Kara, my sister.”

“Yeah, I can see how the lines blur,” Winn quips from behind the agent, and the other two snap their heads up to look at him, and he looks back at them with wide eyes, only realizing now that he’s interrupted. “Oh, uh—”

“Winn, could you give us a moment?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” he says, waving a hand. He scampers out of the room.

“I appreciate you protecting me,” Kara says when Winn’s out of the room. “I just don’t like it when it’s at the expense of other people.”

Alex nods, understanding.

“I can also protect myself just fine, I’m sort of invulnerable,” she continues.

“Not always.”

“Yeah, not always,” Kara laughs. “But you have to stop doing things and excusing it as protecting me.”

“I know, I know.” When Kara doesn’t say anything in return, Alex spreads her arms out as a peace offering, and Kara steps in her embrace. “Sorry,” she mumbles.

“I can protect myself,” Kara replies, “but I’m always gonna need you, Alex.”

//

Alex watches Kara fly out of the DEO balcony, done for the day.

She loves her sister, she really does, and while the conversation she just had with her has been sort of a wake-up call to how she’s been acting, it still doesn’t sate her curiosity (and if there’s anything Alex needs—it’s to be in the _know_), and something her sister said struck a particular cord in her.

“Hey, Winn,” she calls, turning away from the balcony. “You have any records on aliens that can look human?”

“Didn’t Kara just literally talk to you about this?” Winn questions, arching a brow (he doesn’t look remotely impressive, and Alex notes to give him lessons on how to look more intimidating despite his soft demeanor).

“I can’t exactly stop cold turkey,” Alex argues. “That’s unhealthy.”

“That’s a very flawed argument.”

Alex matches his arched brow with her own, more intimidating, one, and Winn shrinks in his seat.

“I’ll get right on it.” He twists in his chair and starts fiddling on his computer. “Kara’s not gonna like this.”

“I’m not asking you to do it so I can go out and get her, Winn,” Alex counters. “Just because Kara told me off doesn’t mean I’m not curious anymore.”

“So you’re doing this because you’re _curious_?”

“Yeah.”

Winn eyes her, skeptical. “Right.”

Alex groans. “Fine, it’s more of a… fail-safe. I’m not gonna actively call her a threat, but it doesn’t hurt to be ready when she does turn out to be one.”

Several documents pop up on Winn’s screen. “Okay so we got a few…”

“Filter out the ones without invulnerability. I saw her get a few cuts back at the Alien Amnesty Signing,” Alex says, “I don’t think she’s a Brevakk. They often bring out their thorns in stressful situations.”

Winn closes several of the documents. “Not an Infernian either, they’re all redheads.”

“And we saw her get a drink with ice back at game night. Infernians are adverse to cold temperatures.”

“And the only time she looked considerably uncomfortable was when you were hounding her with questions about her family,” Winn remarks, and Alex shoots him a look. “Right, sorry. How about Alcorians? They have strong mental abilities.”

Alex considers it for a while, but then, “She did horribly at charades.”

Winn grimaces at the memory. They sift through several more records, until Winn throws his hands up in exasperation. “This is gonna take us _hours_.”

Alex leans back, stretching her back. “You’re right,” she sighs, crossing her arms.

“And we don’t know if she’s even an _alien_, or we’d be doing this for _nothing_.”

Alex hums in agreement, deep in thought. She’d have to rule out that she’s human first or their efforts would be wasted. And that’s when it hits her. She turns to Winn, eyes wide in realization. “We need to get her wasted.”

“_What_?”

“Human alcohol doesn’t affect aliens,” Alex reasons. “If we get her to the alien bar, we can work our way up the stronger and more alien spirits and be able to considerably lessen the list of options.”

Winn gapes at her. “That is a surprisingly elaborate plan that could potentially be dangerous,” he says, hoping that Alex isn’t serious.

But unfortunately for him, she is.

“I need a list of all the available spirits at the alien bar, with their alcohol content and planet of origin. Get them to me within the week.”

//

After the two days of silence from Lena, the woman suddenly takes to becoming the most attentive friend Kara has (which is saying something, considering the devotion that Kara seems to inspire).

It starts with breakfast. Kara arrives at CatCo early for an editorial meeting, and is just supposed to grab her laptop from her office when she sees Lena there, leaning against her door with a brown paper bag in one hand, and scrolling through her phone in another.

“Lena!”

Lena startles, looking up from her phone at the sound of Kara’s voice. “Kara, you’re here! I was just about to text you.” She steps aside when Kara approaches, letting the reporter open the door to her office and invites her inside. “I, um,” Lena starts again, “I got breakfast. From the Thai place near my building.”

“Oh!” Kara yips, excited for food, but then her face falls. “I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

Lena looks disappointed, and Kara wishes she could sit out of the meeting (but she knows she can’t, she’s still trying to prove herself to Snapper, and missing a meeting wouldn’t help her in that pursuit).

“Take a coffee, at least,” Lena insists, pulling out a coffee cup from somewhere in the paper bag she’s holding. “I don’t know your usual, but it’s a, um, caramel macchiato with an extra drizzle of syrup.”

Kara beams, accepting the coffee cup that Lena hands her. “Thank you!”

“I’ll also leave this here.” Lena leans over to her desk, placing the brown paper bag on top of it. “In case you have time to eat after your meeting.”

Kara’s about to give her another enthusiastic thanks when a knock sounds from her door, and James’ head peeks inside. Both women turn towards him.

“Kara—” he pauses. “Oh, hey, Lena.”

“Hello, James.”

He turns back to Kara. “Kara, meeting’s about to start.”

“Oh!” Kara jumps, already making her way out the door. “I’m so sorry Lena. Can we have lunch later?”

Lena smiles at her. “Of course.”

“I’ll, um, I’ll see you later, okay?” Kara tells her, walking, listening to some of James’ notes, and talking to Lena at the same time. “Thanks for the coffee and breakfast!”

“It’s no problem, Kara,” Lena says. “Now go!” The woman shoos her, and Kara manages a laugh, taking a sip from the coffee that Lena gave her.

She thinks she’s gonna start ordering it from now on.

After the meeting, Kara checks her phone and sees a text from Lena.

** Lena Kieran [10:12AM]: ** Hope you have time for breakfast. It’s the most important meal, after all :)

Kara sends her back a selfie of her devouring the Pad Thai that Lena left for her.

//

When Lena arrives at Kara’s office at 12 PM on the dot, take-out in hand, Kara thinks nothing of it. Besides, why question the ultimate cheeseburger and large fries that Lena got her?

“I got you two,” Lena tells her.

Kara gasps when Lena pulls out the two boxes of burgers from the bag, making grabby hands at it all the while.

“Thank you,” she says through a mouthful of food. Lena smiles at her in return and ends up giving her the rest of her fries.

//

Lena texts her at 5 PM, right when she’s about to go home.

** Lena Kieran [5:02 PM]: **Going home? :)

** Kara Danvers [5:03 PM]: **packing up! how about you? wanna walk out together? :D

** Lena Kieran [5:03 PM]: **Oh, I’m still finishing something up

** Kara Danvers [5:04 PM]: **oh okay, that’s alright

She slides her phone into her bag and thinks nothing of the exchange, pretty familiar with the fact that Lena usually does overtime, what with her being late that first game night she invited her to (which reminds her—game night!—she needs to check in with Winn on that Star Wars-themed Monopoly set again).

But when she reaches the CatCo lobby, she hears footsteps race behind her, then, “Kara!” a voice calls out from behind her.

Kara whips around, suddenly face-to-face with a panting and slightly disheveled Lena. “Lena? I thought you were finishing something up?”

“I finished it. Wanna walk out together?”

Warmth spreads in Kara’s chest, and she beams at her. “Sure!”

“I read your opinion piece,” Lena tells her, “about the video Cadmus released.”

Kara perks up. “Oh, yeah! Kinda surprised Snapper trusted me with it, he’s still warming up to me.”

“Well, as far as I know, you’re a pretty good journalist. I loved it,” she says, sincerity coating her voice. “And it’s important for the aliens to have a supporting voice in a media outlet as big as CatCo.”

Kara flushes, and the warmth that’s been spreading in her chest emanates to her fingertips, and she wants to get closer to Lena. “Well, I’m glad I could be that voice.” She settles on the smile that Lena’s giving her, aware that her friend is still wary when it comes to physical contact.

(She remembers carrying her as Supergirl the night before, remembers holding her close while she trembles in her arms, and the way she scrambles out of her hold once they got to the rooftop.)

Before they reach the lobby doors, Lena offers, “I can give you a ride home, if you want.”

Excited with the prospect of spending more time with her, Kara accepts. “Sure!”

//

Lena drives her right to the doorstep of her apartment building.

“Here you are,” Lena tells Kara when she pulls to a stop.

“Thanks.” Kara releases the seat belt around her, and it bolts back into place. “I hope you’re ready for Star Wars Monopoly on game night!”

Lena laughs, because Kara only talked about her excitement for the upcoming game night for the entirety of the car ride and _nothing_ else. “Well, I wouldn’t know _how_ to be ready, I’ve never actually played Monopoly.”

“Oh, you’re gonna love it! And I bet you’ll kick all our butts!”

“Isn’t Monopoly a game of chance?”

“You have _good_ chances then, with all your smarts.”

Lena snorts, more undignified than not, and brings a hand up to cover her mouth. “_What_?” she gasps between breaths. “With all my _smarts_?”

“Uh, yeah!” Kara says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “You—” Kara suddenly stops, scrunching her eyebrows and tilting her head sideways.

Lena looks at her curiously. “Kara?”

Kara snaps back to attention, facing Lena. “I gotta go,” she says.

“Are you okay?”

The blonde scrambles to open the door. “Yeah, yeah,” she assures her. “I just forgot about something.”

“Okay…” Lena replies, skeptical. She watches Kara step out of the car in haste. “Do you need any help?”

“No, it’s fine,” Kara says quickly. “It’s just—my neighbor! I’m supposed to… water their plants. Totally slipped my mind!”

“Oh.” Lena blinks. “Okay, uh, see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow, Lena!” Kara shuts the door on her side, and she hears a muffled shout of “Thanks for the ride!”

Lena watches the reporter all but run inside the building, while she mumbles out a returned, “You’re welcome” as Kara disappears from view.

She revs her engine to leave, and from somewhere above, she catches glimpse of a red cape in the sky.

//

The next day, Kara has her phone out, about to text Lena, when she gets a message from the very person she’s about to text.

** Lena Kieran [8:37 AM]: **Breakfast?

** Kara Danvers [8:38 AM]: **on my way up!

The sight that greets Kara when she reaches her floor to drop off her bag in her office sends her stomach in flip flops, because there’s Lena again, leaning against her door, a take-out bag in hand.

“Seems like you had the same idea I did,” Lena says when she notices her.

“But you bought breakfast yesterday!”

“It just means more for you, then.”

Kara blushes, but she isn’t upset at all. In fact, more food just makes her day all the better, and pair that up with breakfast with Lena? She’s pretty much having a perfect morning.

“So, what are you working on right now?” Lena asks her when they settle down. They have quite a spread in front of them, with Lena bringing an array of breakfast burritos (for Kara, she bought herself a vegetarian gyros), and Kara’s array of pastries from the family-run bakery near her apartment.

Lena grabs herself a slice of banana bread when Kara answers. “Nothing big, mostly fluff pieces. I wanted to do a piece on the bank robbers with those alien guns, but someone beat me to it.”

“Isn’t there already an article on them?”

“Yeah, but something happened so there’s gonna be a follow-up article.”

“What happened?”

“They died before they got detained. We pretty much have no leads on where they acquired their weapons.”

Lena pauses, surprised. “They _all_ died? How?”

Kara shrugs. “Like, a brain aneurysm or something. It was so weird though, I have a cop friend that was assigned to escort them, and she told me that the leader and his cronies dropped dead at the same time.”

Lena seems to latch on to that particular information. “What did it look like?” she asks. “Was there any blood?”

“I don’t…” Kara stutters, surprised with her reaction. “It’s gonna be declared a cold case, I think, they have no leads and have no working theories. Do you know something, Lena?”

“What? No—” Lena backtracks. “I just… nothing.”

Kara looks at her, skeptical. “Okay…” She hesitates, thinks if she should push for more, because it’s obvious once again that Lena knows something (but she also knows that Lena’s a bit of a flight risk, and if she pushes her too much, the woman might just distance herself even more).

But Lena’s full of surprises that morning, it seems, because instead of trailing off from the conversation, she shifts to another topic entirely. “So do you think Finn could be a force-sensitive?” the other woman blurts out.

It’s the most pathetic attempt at a distraction that Kara has ever witnessed, possibly, but she lets Lena get away with it (also partly because that theory has been nagging at her ever since she watched the first prequel film). “Oh!” she exclaims, despite it being beside the point. “I’m so glad you mentioned that…”

So, yes, she does let Lena get away with it, but she manages to spend a morning discussing Star Wars theories with her, so it’s not much of a loss.

Or so she thinks.

//

Kara _tries_ not to think about it, tries not dwell on the fact that Lena might be withholding _crucial_ information that might just help them get to the bottom of their mystery, but it’s kind of hard when anti-alien groups are on the rise again because of the trouble the robbers caused in the first place.

(She’s also thinking if she should tell Alex about this, but they’re in a sort of delicate place whenever Lena’s concerned and she doesn’t want to go back to her word of _not bringing her in_, because she still stands by that.)

She asks Maggie (through Alex) about the condition of the robbers when they died, for future reference. And it’s a good thing she did, because later that night, just when she’s put down her phone, she hears the call:

_ “Supergirl? Supergirl, it’s Lena Kieran. I need to talk to you.” _

She hears the call just a few minutes after Lena tells her she’s retiring for the night (and she knows this because they’re been texting each other the entire time, because Lena has somehow decided to become the most attentive friend ever—which isn’t a bad thing at all, but Kara can’t help but feel that it’s a bit tainted because she knows that Lena’s hiding _something_).

She changes into her suit in 2 seconds and flies out through her window.

She lands gently on the rooftop of Lena’s building.

“The robbers are dead,” Lena says once she lands.

“Good evening, Lena.”

“Sorry,” she apologizes, realizing she hasn’t greeted the hero yet. “Good evening, Supergirl.”

“How do you know that the robbers are dead?”

“It’s on the news.”

_ No it isn’t. The police don't want any media attention yet. _

“No it’s isn’t,” she tells her. “The NCPD are still keeping it under wraps. Want to try again?”

Lena sighs. “A friend told me. She’s a reporter. Please don’t bring her into this.”

Kara wants to ask why. “I won’t,” she assures. “Now, what did you call me for?”

“The robbers all dropped dead at the same time because of a supposed brain aneurysm. What did they look like?”

“They were bleeding from their ears,” Kara recalls when she asked Maggie earlier that day.

Lena silently curses. “Were you there? Did you—did you hear anything?”

“I wasn’t there, but an officer there told me that the leader was saying something about a voice in their head before dying.”

“Damn it!” Lena curses, out loud this time.

Kara scrunches her eyebrows. “Do you know something, Lena?”

She snaps her head up at her. “What?”

“You know something. What is it?”

“No, can you say that again? That thing you just said.”

Kara pauses, scrunching her eyebrows down even further, when she says clearly this time, “Do you know something, Lena?”

Lena blinks, then squints at her, but shakes her head. “Uh, yeah, I just…” she clears her throat. “It’s highly unlikely that the robbers all dropped dead at the same time from _just_ a brain aneurysm.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“There’s a… there might be a device that can _induce_ an aneurysm. That can emit an inaudible frequency that should be harmless unless you congest a certain toxin.”

“And how do you know about this device?”

Kara sees Lena hesitate visibly, about to say something but then she shuts her mouth. “I… I can’t tell you,” Lena says instead.

It catches her off guard, because this is it. The damning proof that Lena really is _hiding_ something, something a lot bigger than herself, because Kara’s been having that suspicion, Alex has been trying to convince her of it, and she’s convinced of it partly, but she didn’t expect it to be of _this_ magnitude.

“How can I trust you, if you can’t trust me?” the hero challenges. “I can’t just take your word for it.”

“You just _have_ to,” Lena says desperately. “Look, I can’t—I can’t run away again.”

The emotion in Lena’s voice takes Kara aback, and she takes a few steps forward hoping to reach out to the other woman, but Lena flinches back, so she stays in her place. “Okay, I believe you,” she raises her hands up as if in defense. “But you’re gonna have to trust me, too. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s happening.”

“If I tell you, _you’re_ not going to trust me.”

“I already trust you,” Kara says matter-of-fact, “and whatever it is that you think is gonna change that, it won’t.”

“What? How could you already _trust_ me?” the woman asks, incredulously.

“Because you just want to do good. You just want to help.”

Lena stays silent for a few moments, just stares at her like she’s an alien (and she is, but people mostly look at her with something akin to reverence, so the confusion in Lena’s face sort of unnerves her).

“Look, you don’t have to tell me now—” she tries.

“I’ll tell you.”

Kara blinks. “Okay?”

“I’ll tell you, but—just _don’t_ ask more questions. Please?”

Kara nods.

She takes a deep breath that shakes her entire body, then starts, “There was a discontinued research effort on the physiological effects of high-frequency sounds on the brain, but it wasn’t going well, experiments showed that there were no changes in brain activity whenever the subject was exposed to frequencies higher than 24 kilohertz.”

Kara’s eyes start widening.

“They figured the brain just wasn’t picking up on it, so they started experimenting, synthesizing chemicals that might increase the subjects’ sound sensitivity.”

“The toxin,” Kara says, realization dawning on her.

Lena nods, continuing, “The research was discontinued when they discovered a frequency that could trigger the brain’s pain receptors. The results were catastrophic. One of the subjects was left in a near-vegetative state. None of the scientists felt comfortable continuing the study knowing there’s a possibility their research could be weaponized.”

“But it is. Being weaponized, that is. One of the scientists went rogue, then?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Lena bites at her bottom lip, thinking. “It’s very difficult to synthesize the chemical. It’s a rigorous and expensive process. Not to mention building a device that could fine-tune inaudible frequencies. A scientist going rogue by themselves wouldn’t be able to do it, and all the samples of the chemical have been destroyed when the research was discontinued.”

“Isn’t it possible that someone else just figured out the formula?” the hero questions.

“That study was very ahead of its time,” she says, “And I can’t just ignore the coincidence.”

Kara sighs. Lena’s hiding too much, they aren’t going anywhere with this. “I need to know how viable this is, Lena. We’re going around in circles.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes it does!” she throws her hands up. “I can’t pursue this without knowing _where_ to start. And I can’t do it in good conscience without the knowledge of a _real threat_. Because I could be giving all my attention following your lead when I should’ve been looking somewhere else. You gotta give me something.”

Lena closes her eyes, shaking her head. “This was a mistake then, I can’t—”

“You _have_ to,” Kara says, stepping closer towards her. “What you know might _save lives_, Lena. However bad this thing that you can’t tell me is—it won’t trump that.”

The other woman takes a deep breath, making up her mind. “Fine, fine,” she lets out. She seems to debate it in her head for a few moments, eyes avoiding the hero’s as she churns out her thoughts, chewing on her bottom lip. “The research…” Lena starts, and she faces up to look at the hero dead in the eyes, “it was done by LuthorCorp.”

“LuthorCorp,” Kara repeats.

The sound of Lena’s thundering heartbeat floods Kara’s ears, and she’s once again thinking _what how why_.

Lena nods.

“You realize the implications of that,” Kara says. “You’re insinuating that someone at LuthorCorp was involved in the distribution of the alien weapons, and possibly even Cadmus.”

“Wouldn’t be so far-fetched, right?” Lena responds, and it has the littlest bit of snark that Kara picks up on. “And it wouldn’t just be _anyone_ at LuthorCorp. You need to have a high level clearance to be able to access archived records—especially _that_ one.”

“So it’s a significant figure at LuthorCorp,” she ponders, “maybe someone that’s even a Luthor themself.”

Lena doesn’t say anything, just subtly tilts her head to the side.

“Lex Luthor was put into solitary confinement a few months ago,” Kara states.

“Lex isn’t the only Luthor.”

“This is a dangerous game you’re playing, Lena.”

Lena hardens her gaze. “Believe me, I know.”

“I need tangible proof of the research,” Kara says.

“I’ll have the files in a few days,” Lena reassures. “I’ll call for you again.”

Kara nods once, and she’s about to turn to leave when, “No chance you’ll tell me how exactly you know all of this?”

A smirk makes its way to Lena’s face. “Not a chance.”

Kara breathes out a laugh, and lifts off the ground a few inches. “It was worth a try.”

“Maybe someday. If times are different.”

Kara nods. “You’re a good person, Lena. Nothing’s gonna change that.”

Lena purses her lips, then, “Good night, Supergirl. Thank you for coming.”

“Good night, Lena,” and she turns and flies away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 5 SUCKS.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen.

Lena can’t quite explain why she’s been doing everything that she’s been doing.

It started with breakfast. She thinks, _well, Kara deserves it after I accidentally ignored her for a few days._ Kara deserves to be pampered a little bit for worrying after her.

And Kara looked so _happy_ and _surprised_ to see her with food, but it turns out she has an early morning meeting, so Lena follows it up with lunch of what she’s sure is something Kara, food enthusiast as she is, would undoubtedly love: a meal of two greasy cheeseburgers and fries.

Lena couldn’t help but smile when Kara thanks her through the mouthful of her first bite of the burger that she ends up giving the reporter the rest of her fries.

She texts Kara at 5PM on the dot to check if the reporter’s packing up for the day, and she looks at her own computer screen while she does, because she was in the middle of debugging her gargantuan spam email sorter when a software update suddenly starts without prompt, so she needs to stay for a couple of hours at least to get her email sorter back up and running (_note to self: turn off automatic updates_).

Kara texts her back with an offer to walk out the office together, and Lena suddenly finds herself packing up, and delaying her work for tomorrow (she reasons that her shift’s done, too, and Macky looks at her like she’s possessed because it’s the first time Lena’s leaving the office without overtime).

She even manages to offer Kara a ride home, thinking to herself that this is maybe _why_ she brought her car to work (she was double guessing that morning whether to walk to work as she normally does, but decides to drive there instead at the last minute), and she’s content to just listen to the blonde babble on about board games, until she makes a hasty exit about plants that need to get watering.

She brings Kara breakfast the next day (she thought that since they didn’t get to have breakfast together the other day, she might as well offer again today), but they seem to both have the same idea when Lena sees Kara with a take-out bag in hand.

“Seems like you had the same idea,” she says, waving the paper bag in her hand.

“But you bought breakfast yesterday!”

Lena laughs at the little pout on her face, and can’t help but tease, “It just means more for you, then.”

Pink dusts Kara’s cheeks and Lena thinks how her day could get any better.

It stutters when Kara mentions the robbers.

(Lena almost wishes she never asked about what Kara was working on, and wishes she wasn’t so invested in the topic, what with the certain _implications_ that have been nagging in her mind ever since they surfaced.)

“Do you know something, Lena?” Kara asks, brows pursed, after Lena barrages her with questions.

“What? No—” she tries to backtrack. “I just… nothing.”

She hopes Kara lets it go, since she’s always had that sixth sense of letting certain things slide whenever it closes in on uncharted territory for Lena, and she almost lets out a sigh of relief when she does.

Trying to avoid any awkward silences, she blurts out the first thing she thinks of, “So do you think Finn could be force-sensitive?”

And when Kara plays along with her obvious avoidance of the topic with her signature enthusiasm, Lena decides she doesn’t deserve her in the slightest, but to hell with it if she doesn’t _try_ to be.

The consequences of leaving her work prematurely the previous night comes in the form of a heavy backlog of unsorted email when she arrives at her station (she’s been calling the CatCo server room as her station—she’s the only one who goes there, after all) after breakfast with Kara.

Macky approaches her before she goes in. “Frank from Marketing clicked a link on an email that downloaded porn on his computer.”

Lena suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. She should have expected this, really. “That’s my fault, I haven’t pushed the patch for the email sorter yet.”

“Oh, yeah,” Macky says, amusement playing her features. “You did leave on time last night.”

“Yup.”

Macky sends her a devious smile. “Hot date?”

“Wha—_no_,” Lena says all too quickly. “I just wanted to leave _early_.”

“_Right_.” Macky looks unconvinced. “Anyway, I’ll send one of the interns to fix Frank from Marketing’s computer. You get your email sorter back up.”

Lena sighs in relief. “Thank you, Macky.”

She waves a hand to dismiss her. “No, thank _you_, Lena. This used to happen every other day before you and your sentient email sorter arrived.”

“It’s not _sentient_.”

“Not yet, it isn’t.”

Macky leaves her alone for the rest of the day. Pushing the updates on her spam email sorter and filtering through the backlog had been perfect distraction that doesn’t have her stewing in her thoughts, but once she’s finished with that, she’s left with forcing herself to _not_ think about what Kara’s just told her as opposed to not thinking about it at all.

The direct opposite happens, of course, and all she’s done for the rest of her day is connecting the dots between the news that Kara’s told her and the constant _nagging_ thoughts in her head as she mentally digs through the various dead projects Lex was supposed to hand over to her before he went all crazy.

(A particular study stood out at the time—specifically because it was on the top of the pile that was handed to her by Lex—and the terms _hypersonic effect_ bore more and more significance the more she thinks about it.)

She still tries to _not_ actively think about it while thinking about it, tries not to let it consume her because it would be _such_ a stretch to even consider the probability of her hunch being true, and distracts herself the best way she knows how: by texting Kara.

And it was effective while it lasted, because Kara’s usual enthusiasm translates perfectly through text, and Lena has no choice but to try and match her energy. They talk about everything and nothing at the same time, from an extended discussion of Star Wars theories, which evolved into a discussion about the technology in Sci-Fi films (Kara had a lot to say about this, surprisingly), which somehow turned into Lena explaining the intricacies of her spam email sorter in painstaking detail.

**Kara Danvers [9:23 PM]: **is it… learning?

**Lena Kieran [9:23 PM]:** I wanted to be able to identify the different classifications of spam and generate forecasts for the rate they come in.

**Kara Danvers [9:24 PM]:** you made an ai to sort emails?

**Lena Kieran [9:25 PM]:** If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes

When it reaches 10 o’clock, she starts feeling bad for keeping Kara awake on a weekday, so she says goodnight and promises that she’s also going to bed.

She does not last long.

She doesn’t expect taking up Supergirl’s offer of being on-call so soon, but here she is, minutes after putting her phone down, talking into the night sky, half-hoping National City’s hero actually shows up on her rooftop, while the other half of her wishes she won’t, just so she could put the issue to rest.

But unfortunately for her, she does.

After just a few seconds of calling, Supergirl lands gently in front of her.

It’s still a vision, seeing the hero up close, to be able to look into her eyes and have her look back at you. She’s never had to face Superman, but she imagines that his boy-scout righteousness wouldn’t quite match the quiet regality in the way Supergirl carries herself.

(It’s the reason Lena has a certain bias for the Girl of Steel; not just because she’s a woman—although that does play a large part, make no mistake—but because Supergirl has a certain elegance in her movements compared to Superman’s more brash approach.)

“The robbers are dead,” is what she says first. Because this is how it’s supposed to be—quick, succinct, straight to the point.

But Supergirl seems to have a different idea, because what she replies is, “Good evening, Lena.”

“Sorry,” she says back, sheepish. “Good evening, Supergirl.”

Then Supergirl drives straight back into business after the pleasantries, and it surprises Lena when she catches her little white lie.

“Please don’t bring her into this,” she begs (albeit subtly), because having Kara being anywhere near this puts her stomach in knots. Supergirl manages to reassure her but the idea alone wants to make Lena sick.

She gets what she needs from Supergirl but she can’t control the way it pulls her apart, can’t control the way she wants to scream into the world, because she’s already _ran away_ from this, and she knows that she can’t run away from it _again_.

(Because it’s like there’s something anchoring her in place, like there’s something that might be worth staying for—but she doesn’t dwell on these thoughts.)

“Do you know something, Lena?”

It catches her off-guard, when an image of Kara from that morning comes to Lena’s mind, unbidden.

“What?”

But it’s Supergirl who stares back at her. “You know something. What is it?”

“No, can you say that again? That thing you just said.”

Supergirl looks at her curiously, but she repeats, “Do you know something, Lena?”

Lena doesn’t know why that’s it, but that’s what cements her trust in Supergirl, even though she belatedly realizes this fact. Because the next thing she knows, she’s spilling what the hero needs to know—trusting her when she tells her that she just _has to_ tell her why what she knows is important, why it should be so alarming.

She understands it now, why there’s such a devotion when it comes to superheroes. She doesn’t know exactly _what_ inspires it, but she definitely feels it with the way she’s left breathing a little lighter when Supergirl leaves.

//

Lena realizes that hacking into the LuthorCorp servers that house their more confidential files requires more forethought than hacking it to get blueprints from a collaborative project (which was what the Venture-LuthorCorp partnership was).

She comes to that conclusion after several days of scoping and still not making any progress.

It doesn’t help that Kara keeps _looking_ at her weirdly, and it’s throwing her in for a loop, because it’s not the _good_ kind of looking at her, it’s the kind as if Kara’s trying to figure her out.

Lena only blames herself because of her weird behavior that time they had breakfast and she hounded her with questions, but it’s still unnerving to be scrutinized so closely.

It also doesn’t help that she finds herself in the presence of Kara more frequently as of late, and whether it’s by her own actions or not, it doesn’t matter.

But despite the looming prospect of a storm, Lena finds a silver lining in Kara.

It’s refreshing, she thinks, to have a companionship so untainted with whatever implications the Luthor name brought. While it was a bit overwhelming at first, Lena slowly comes to like Kara’s company more and more, and it _definitely_ helps that the reporter seem to have no sort of ulterior motive for even associating with her—which is a concept still a bit foreign for Lena.

And if she sort of keeps on seeking out Kara more often than not, well, can you really blame her?

Eating breakfast together has become the norm, so is having lunch, and texting each other through dinner until they both fall asleep.

//

Her friends begin noticing things a touch later than Kara does.

“Hey, wanna grab lunch after my meeting with the Art Department?” James asks, peeking his head inside Kara’s office after knocking.

Kara’s head whips up, having been immersed in writing an article about the stagnant crime rate despite the introduction of the Alien Amnesty. “Huh?”

“Wanna grab lunch after my meeting?” he repeats.

“Oh, uh…” She glances at the time on her screen, and sees that she has a full hour before her break. “I’m actually having lunch with Lena. She wanted to try this new Ethiopian restaurant. You’re welcome to join us. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

James makes a face at the mention of _Ethiopian_, fully stepping into the office. “No thanks, I once got food poisoning when Lucy and I went on a date and ate Ethiopian food. Swore off of it ever since.”

Kara rolls her eyes, but laughs. “Well, help yourself. Lena’s never tried it.” Her eyes drift back to her article.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately.” When Kara looks back at him, James is smirking. “Couldn’t get a hold of you this entire week.”

“Um,” she says, blinking, “she’s new to town. She could use a friend.”

“Mhm.” He gives her a look that definitely suggests something different. “Sure she does.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” The silly grin he’s sending her way wanes into a gentle smile. “Have a great lunch, yeah?”

“Okay?” Kara laughs again. “You sure you don’t wanna join us?”

James waves off the offer. “Nah, you guys have fun together. The other photographers were planning to order a pizza, I’ll chip in with them.”

“Alright, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

//

It’s not that Lena’s attention bothers Kara, in fact, she finds herself wholly _un_bothered by it at all.

She’s _so_ unbothered by it, that she doesn’t necessarily call Lena’s behavior _unusual_ until she finds her sitting outside her apartment door, clutching a small paper bag (with a single donut inside, which Kara discovers after a quick peek with her x-ray vision) at around 1 in the morning.

“Lena?” she asks, carefully approaching the woman.

Lena, who was about halfway to dozing off on the floor, startles. “Kara!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I, uh…” She scrambles to stand up. “You stopped replying for a few hours, I got worried and—”

“You wanted to check on me?” she finishes for her. It’s true, Kara had to cut their text thread short when she got an alert about an apartment fire that the Fire Department couldn’t control. It took her a few hours to take out the fire, secure the integrity of the structure, and lead the rest of the residents out of the building; all while also bringing some of the more critical victims to the hospital, then following it up with assisting with the clean-up because the apartment building was apparently near a park that the nearby Home for the Elderly people liked to take strolls in during the morning.

“Yes?” Lena says, unsure. “Are you okay? Um, you kind of…”

Kara moves to unlock her apartment door, looking at Lena questioningly, then gesturing for her to come in. When Lena doesn’t continue, she asks, “What?”

Lena grimaces. “You kind of… smell? Not bad—I mean, not _exactly_. You smell like ash.”

“Oh! Um,” Kara blushes. “I was at a, uh, apartment fire. The one Supergirl helped with?”

She hears Lena’s heart rate spike up. “You were at an _apartment fire_?”

“I was just, you know, at the outskirts.”

Lena crowds into her, inspecting her face, but not touching her. “Did you breathe in the smoke?”

“Nope, um—” She flushes when she sees Lena rake her eyes around her. “Just watched Supergirl save the day from a safe distance, you know me.”

“_No,_” Lena says, matter-of-fact. “_You_ like to rush into danger notepad and pen first, and self-preservation last.” Lena makes a vague gesture around her face, “You have a bit of…” then points somewhere on her.

“Oh.” Kara brings a hand up to rub at some errant spot of ash.

“No, um, over there,” Lena points again.

She rubs at another part.

“Not—ugh, let me just…” Then she pulls her sleeve over her hand and uses it to wipe at her left cheek.

“You were _not_ pointing there,” Kara whines, but flushes at the contact.

“Yes I was,” she defends, pulling her hand back then wiping the spot of ash on her sweater on her pants. “You just need to wipe down your glasses. It’s covered in ash. How do you even see through that?”

“You get used to it,” Kara mumbles while she dips her down, frantically attempting to wipe out the gunk from her glasses and failing.

“That’s not how you do it, you’re gonna end up poking your eye. Give me—”

“No!”

Lena reaches out, and Kara hurriedly brings both her hands up to cover her glasses, but ends up slapping herself in the face and lodging her glasses’ lens right onto her closed eyelids (it’s a miracle it didn’t break).

“I—I mean,” Kara says, wincing. “I have a special solution to clean it up. It’s in my bathroom. I’ll just go get it.”

“Right.” Lena chews on her bottom lip, fiddling with the paper bag in her hands. “Um, I should go, actually. I just wanted to check on you and—” she hands over the paper bag “—I got you this.”

Kara accepts the bag, at a loss. Did she want Lena to leave? Does _Lena_ want to leave? Because she sure as hell doesn’t seem like she does, that’s for sure. I mean, not with how she seems to hesitantly look at the door and back at her.

She makes a decision in the split second it takes for Lena to let go of the paper bag; just as she retreats her hand, Kara reaches over and pinches at her long sleeve before she pulls back.

“Uh—you can stay?” she hesitates. “I mean, I know it’s late but, you went all the way over here and got me this donut.”

Lena shakes her head. “No, I wouldn’t want to intrude, it’s late and there’s work—”

“You could spend the night.”

Kara doesn’t know what possesses her to say it, but she finds herself meaning it once she does. Maybe it’s because it _is_ late and she doesn’t want Lena to go home by herself, and there’s no way the woman would let Kara walk her home. Maybe it was the look of relief on Lena’s face when she saw Kara outside her apartment’s hallway. Maybe Kara just wants to spend some more time with Lena, no matter the reason.

Whatever the cause, Kara means it, but it still doesn’t stop her eyes going wide from suggesting it, and she could only watch as Lena’s jaw drops ever so slightly while confusion paints her face.

“Spend the night?” Lena questions slowly, as if testing the idea in her brain.

“Yeah!” Kara says, suddenly excited with the idea. “It’ll be like a slumber party! We can watch a movie if you feel up to it, or we can go to sleep if you’re tired. I’m still a little pumped with adrenaline and I have comfier clothes you can borrow—”

“Sure.”

“Yeah?” Kara grins. “You’ll stay the night?”

Lena smiles up at her, and it’s the small, shy kind of smile Kara recognizes that Lena does all the time with her. “Yeah. We can watch a movie, if you aren’t so tired yet.”

“Cool! I’ll lay out some clothes for you, and you can pick a movie while I scrub out my ash smell?”

“Okay.”

//

Kara pulls out her softest sweatpants and her well-worn NCU sweatshirt and hands them over to Lena before stepping into the shower. She resists the urge to super-speed through it partly because she wants to join Lena on the couch for some movie time as soon as possible, but she doesn’t want her to be suspicious of her quick bath.

When Kara steps out of the shower it’s to see Lena looking tiny bunched up in her clothes, sitting on the floor in front of her extensive DVD collection, and something flutters in Kara’s stomach.

“You have an interesting collection,” Lena says when Kara steps into the living room. “You have the entirety of the Alien franchise, and right next to it is Imagine Me & You.”

“Alex likes it.” Kara peeks over Lena’s shoulder to survey her DVDs. “And I’m more of the romcom type.”

“Oh,” she gasps, and Kara hears Lena’s heart tick up a notch.

“What about you?” Kara asks.

“Um.” Lena runs a hand over the DVD spines, and it lingers a bit above _Imagine Me & You_. “I’ve only seen the first Alien movie.”

“Did you like it?” She doesn’t say it, but Kara’s always kind of hated it. But if Lena wanted to watch it, she could sit through it.

“Kind of lost its appeal when aliens started really showing up, you know?” Lena laughs.

Kara snorts. “That’s an interesting take.”

“Yeah, well,” Lena shrugs. “Not all aliens are predatory beasts that have acid blood. Some are pretty nice. Like Supergirl.”

Kara feels her heart jump to her throat. “S-Supergirl?”

Lena continues scanning through the DVD spines. “I saw her at the charity auction. I can see why you’re so taken with her.”

“Wha—_taken_ with her?”

“Yeah,” Lena says, eyeing Kara. “You write about her all the time, and she seems to only give quotes to you. Kinda like Lois Lane and Superman.”

“_Lois Lane and Sup_—no! I mean—” Kara sputters. “It’s not that like that! She’s not even my _type_.”

Lena arches a brow, a grin forming on her face. “Really? And what is Kara Danvers’ type then, if not the Girl of Steel?”

“Um,” Kara thinks hurriedly. “She’s too… punch first, you know? I’m more of a brains over brawns kinda gal.”

Lena breathes out a laugh, nodding. “Maybe Supergirl is a lot more than a punch first mentality,” she says, then quickly follows it with a, “But how should I know, right? You’ve talked to her more than I have.”

Kara laughs, then cringes at how awkward it sounds, but Lena doesn’t seem to notice it because she’s finally pulling out a DVD. It’s _Matilda_.

“I haven’t watched this.”

Kara grins. “Good choice.”

//

Lena squirms underneath the five blankets on top of her.

(“I like making a little nest in front of the TV for movie nights in case I fall asleep,” Kara told her, arms piled high with blankets and pillows. “Movies are a great way to relax, you know? It’s why I don’t really like horror.”)

“Are you okay?” she hears Kara ask.

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

Lena blinks away from the screen to face Kara. “Did you get your donut?” she asks instead of answering. “I left it on your side of the couch’s arm.”

Kara twists around to look for the bagged treat, and brings out an arm from underneath her own pile of blankets and pillows to reach for it. “Got it!” she says when she finally grabs hold of it. She gasps when she reaches inside and pulls out a chocolate sprinkle. “Yes!”

Lena can’t help but smile when she sees Kara practically devour it. “You mentioned that you like chocolate sprinkles once.”

“I do!” Kara says through a large bite.

Lena laughs. “How’d you even know it was a donut?”

Kara looks at her and raises her eyebrows in question, mouth too full to talk.

“When I handed it to you, you knew it was a donut. I don’t think I’ve told you what it was.”

Kara swallows. “Oh, uh, I recognized the bag.”

Lena laughs again, because _of course_ Kara would recognize it from the bag. “Ever the foodie,” she teases, and faces back to watch the movie.

She doesn’t notice until the next day that the paper bag is blank.

//

Lena doesn’t stop squirming under her pile of blankets.

“You sure you’re okay?” Kara asks her again. “Not too hot, or cold?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she brushes her off.

They’re nearing the end of the movie, and Matilda’s stinky mom is just about to drag her away from Miss Honey’s house to move to Guam.

_“Miss Honey doesn’t want you! Why would she want some snotty, disobedient kid?”_

She hears Lena inhale a sharp breath and Kara turns to face her, only to find the other woman white-knuckled and clenching on the blankets on her lap.

Then Miss Honey calls Matilda wonderful, tells her she loves her, and Lena’s grip on the blankets loosen. Kara hears her release a soft sigh, as if she’s been expecting the other shoe to drop (on a _kids movie_ of all things), and she’s relieved that it didn’t.

Lena watches the rest of the movie with furrowed brows, and Kara finds herself saying, “You know, I’m adopted too.”

“Huh?” Lena turns to her.

“I’m adopted,” Kara repeats. “Not by choice like Matilda, obviously. But, um, yeah. I was adopted by the Danvers when I was 13.”

Lena looks at the screen, and it’s Matilda and Miss Honey at the park, then she looks at Kara again. “What about your—” she hesitates, “biological parents?”

“They died,” Kara says simply. “In a fire.” It doesn’t get easier, remembering it; but hiding the pain does. “I’m the only one who survived. I have a cousin, he lives in Metropolis. He gave me to the Davers.”

“Kara…” And Kara expects Lena to say something like _I’m sorry_, but she doesn’t, instead she says, “I’m adopted too,” like it’s an _I understand_.

The moment feels big for Kara, because it’s the first time Lena tells her _something_, and she understands enough to not push her for anymore, but the moment feels pivotal and a warmth blooms in her chest, so she does the only thing she could think of.

She scooches closer and wraps an arm around her.

Lena lets it happen, doesn’t even flinch when Kara’s hand drops on her other side, and she even ever so slightly leans into the touch.

The warmth in her chest emanates to her fingertips and she resists the urge to pull Lena closer, but Lena seems to read her mind and she settles to rest her head on her shoulder.

“That was nice,” Lena tells her once the movie ends.

“Yeah,” Kara agrees. “It’s one of my favorite movies.”

Lena stays silent for a couple seconds, ruminating. “Your parents,” she starts hesitantly, “were they…”

“They were good,” Kara finishes for her. “They were—” her voice trembles, because it doesn’t get easier, talking about them, and sometimes she gets so overwhelmed that it knocks her breath away.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“I love the Danvers,” she says instead. “And they love me. But it was hard at first, to be happy with them.”

“Survivor’s guilt,” Lena tells her.

Kara chuckles wetly. “Yeah. And,” she hesitates, clears her throat, “and yours?”

“I was four. I don’t remember her much, but,” she pauses. Then, “I remember being happy. And loved.”

(_“She died in 1997 when Lena was 4-years-old. She disappeared the same year,”_ she hears Alex’s voice in her head. She remembers Alex’s accusations, the words _witness protection_, and _kidnapping_, but all this time Lena was actually just adopted into another family.)

_Was she loved like I was when the Danvers took me in?_ Is the question that pops out immediately. But Lena’s silence after her admission is very telling, and Kara doesn’t want to push her.

_It’s fine_, Kara thinks to herself. _She’ll tell me when she’s ready._

//

Kara dismisses the thought of telling Alex that Lena is adopted a split second after she thinks of it.

_No_, Kara tells herself, _Lena trusted me enough to tell me herself, and it’s not for me to share._

It still doesn’t dissuade Kara from the thought that Alex is up to something though, purely based on her sister’s reaction to finding out that Lena spent the night at her place.

“You talk every night?”

“We text everyday.”

“So much that she gets worried enough to go to your apartment and wait for you until midnight when you don’t reply for a few hours?”

Kara pauses. _Was_ it unusual? “Yeah?” she replies, unsure.

“And then you invited her to stay the night.”

“It was late,” she defends.

“But not late enough to watch a movie instead of going to sleep.”

“I wasn’t tired and she wanted to.”

Alex looks at her, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. “And where’d she even sleep? On the couch?”

“_I_ slept on the couch,” she says.

(Not exactly a lie; Kara and Lena both fell asleep on the blanket and pillow nest in front of the TV while _Tangled_ was playing.)

She flushes at the memory from this morning of waking up to a sleep-addled Lena wobbling around her apartment; tousled hair and squinty eyes, trying to figure out her coffee maker, and then getting it to work after two solid minutes of staring at it.

_Kara woke up to a **thump **that had her jerking awake sitting up alert._

_“Lena!?”_

_Lena stood a few feet away from the couch, one hand bracing itself against the wall, and the other rubbing at a reddening spot on her forehead. “Sorry,” she groans out, “I didn’t see the wall.”_

_And that’s how Kara discovered that Lena’s not a morning person by any stretch. The woman spent the entire morning lazy-eyed, staring at the coffee maker for two whole minutes to try and figure it out—and then glaring at Kara for trying to intervene—then sat on one of the bar stools hunched over, quietly sipping on her coffee._

_Lena transformed back to her semblance of normal after her drink with a suggestion of getting breakfast before heading to work._

_“You can borrow some of my clothes,” Kara suggested after they clean up their cups._

_“What?”_

_“I mean, we see each other everyday, you can give them back whenever.”_

_“Oh, no—” Lena scrambled “I can just wear what I wore last night.”_

_“Lena, you were wearing a shirt and jeans. Ms. Grant’s gonna fire you the minute you step inside CatCo.”_

_Then that’s how Lena ends up in her clothes._

“Besides,” Kara continues, “It’s nice having someone worried about me.”

“_I’m_ worried about you all the time,” Alex replies.

“Yeah, but you’re…” she trails off.

“What does _that_ mean?” her sister asks, affronted.

Kara shrugs her shoulders. “Y’know…”

Alex looks at her suspiciously. “Oh, I see how it is. When Lena worries about you it’s fine, but when I do it’s—”

“Annoying.”

“—too much,” Alex finishes, then gasps. She flings whatever file she’s holding at a laughing Kara, who catches it deftly and places it on the table between them.

“I’m _joking_,” Kara laughs when Alex continues to throw whatever object she gets a hand of at her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Alex asks.

“Snapper sent me out for an assignment,” Kara answers. “But I’m done and have an hour to spare before lunch with Lena.”

“With _Lena_.”

“Yeah, she wants to try the salads at Noonan’s,” she shudders.

Alex looks at her for a few seconds, but shakes her heads and leans forward on the table. “Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she says. “What do you think about skipping out on game night next week and bringing everyone to a bar?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, stay safe guys!


	11. Chapter 11

Lena cracks the code by waiting for the LuthorCorp servers to do its weekly security patch and slipping in through the cracks for the brief few minutes it updates. It involved her having to snag the schedule beforehand, but she manages to get what she needs.

A more convenient time would’ve been preferable though, because she’s currently in Kara’s bathroom in the middle of game night at 10 in the evening.

She could’ve made up an excuse to not come at all, but Kara’s been very vocal of her excitement to play Star Wars Monopoly that Lena didn’t want to disappoint.

Besides, she just had to quickly execute a script that’ll have her flawlessly retrieving the file she needed. She did enough scoping to figure out where it was located in the filesystem, so she shouldn’t have to run into any more problems. And doing that from her friend’s bathroom shouldn’t be so hard.

Yes, she had to do the extra steps of setting up a secure shell she could operate with her phone between her machine, and that involved pulling off an all-nighter trying to make it as airtight as possible, and _that _was following the frankly lacking sleep from the late night she had with Kara watching movies.

_Kara and her arrive at CatCo together the morning after their _slumber party_, as Kara likes to call it._

_Nothing of note particularly happens on that day, aside from her conversation with Cat Grant, and the double take that she spots James giving her when he enters the conference room near her desk._

_Cat calls her into her office after her first meeting of the day. Lena cautiously sits down in front of her, preparing for the worst. After being scrutinized in a way only Cat ever manages to do, the CEO says, “How are you?”_

_“Good.”_

_“Anything of note been happening in your life?”_

_Lena blinks, her mind looping back to the previous days. She thinks she should tell Cat about Cadmus and the Luthors, but decides against it. “Nothing of interest.”_

_Cat raises one eyebrow, her eyes scanning her over, in the particular way that Lena knows that she’s looking at her clothes._

_Lena looks down at her outfit, and it’s acceptable office wear as far as she knows. The shirt and slacks Kara let her borrow fit snugly against her curves (albeit a little tight in certain areas), but she doesn’t look particularly jarring in the fit._

_Cat dismisses her not too long after that, and the rest of the day passes uneventfully._

Finally seeing her script downloading a copy of the research paper for the hypersonic effect has her expelling the final remnants of the adrenaline she’s been running off of the past few hours.

She leans against the sink, eyes trained on her phone’s screen, waiting for the download to finish. It takes a few minutes, but once it’s done and she closes all the connections, she’s pretty much fighting against the heaviness of her eyes.

She slinks back to the living room, where Kara, Alex, Winn, and James are sitting around the board game on top of the coffee table. She takes her seat beside Kara, who looks at her with furrowed brows.

“You okay?”

Lena blinks at her. “Huh?”

“You look kinda tired.”

“Mhm, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Kara frowns. “Do you wanna go? I can walk you home.”

“No, no,” Lena sits up straighter. “I’m having fun. And I have my car.”

“Are you sure?” Kara asks. “No one’s gonna mind.”

“Yeah.”

//

Paying attention while fighting off sleep should’ve been easier considering the countless sleepless nights she’s operated on in the past years (running on very few hours or no sleep at all for several days was a norm during the months surrounding her thesis project), but she’s been maintaining a _normal_ sleeping schedule ever since she moved to National City that straying from it is making her a lot more tired than usual.

Albeit that, she still jerks awake when she feels someone shake her shoulder and sees everyone looking at her.

“Sorry?” she says, shaking her head and sitting up from her perched position on the couch behind her.

“It’s your turn to roll,” Winn chirps from across the board.

Lena grabs the dice on the board and tosses them without a thought. Nothing exciting particularly happens, she just gets the chance to pick a card and collects cash from the banker and then it’s Kara’s turn.

It’s a testament to her tiredness that she’s already straining her eyes in the few minutes it takes for Kara to finish her turn (she just lands on one of Winn’s properties; it earned her an excited _ha!_ from Winn and a smug hand reaching over the board for Kara’s fake cash), but she finds herself half leaning back against the couch when Kara’s turning towards her.

“Hey,” Kara says.

“Hm?” Lena mumbles back, then shivers when she feels a sudden coldness.

“Cold?” Kara asks. She glances around the apartment when Lena nods, but doesn’t spot any open windows. She settles on the blanket she’s been snuggling with, grabs the two corners with each hand, and throws an arm around Lena to place it over her shoulders.

Lena sighs when the warmth envelopes her, instinctively scooching closer to Kara to make the task of draping the blanket around her easier. When the task is done, Kara settles on resting her arm on the couch behind them.

In the background, she hears Winn and James engage in a negotiation about utilities, because apparently Winn is about to go bankrupt. Lena drones out their conversation, eyes drifting close and head tilting.

//

“It’s Lena’s—”

“I’ll roll for her,” Kara interjects, grabbing the dice from the board as gently as she can to avoid jostling the woman currently sleeping on her arm.

She winces when it lands on one of James’ properties (who has overtaken the board—he owns about half of the overall properties now due to Winn constantly trading off his properties as a futile attempt to avoid bankruptcy) and she grabs some cash from Lena’s pile on her lap and hands it over.

“Is she okay?” James gestures over to the woman perched on her arm when he reaches over for the paper money.

Kara glances over at Lena; if she strains her ears enough she can hear the light snores coming from her. “Yeah, just tired,” Kara says. “Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“How do you know that?” Alex suddenly asks from her spot.

“She _told_ me,” she says defensively (why exactly she feels the need to be defensive, she doesn’t know). “Like, 30 minutes ago,” she adds for good measure.

“We can end early if she wants to go home and rest,” James suggests.

“You just don’t want to see my comeback, Olsen,” Winn taunts.

“Dude.” He pointedly looks at the board then back at him. “Let’s be real.” He looks back at Kara. “No, but really, we can continue next week. We can just take a picture of the board.”

She catches Winn dipping his head down before shooting a look at Alex, and her sister interjecting with an, “Oh, about next week.”

Kara furrows her brows at the odd interaction.

“What do you think about drinks?” Alex continues.

James shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, seemingly always onboard for whatever plan.

Alex told her about bringing everyone to a new bar she discovered a while ago instead of having their usual game night next week, and while she _had_ been on the verge of agreeing, seeing Winn’s odd reaction has Kara skeptical about the entire thing again.

“Um,” Kara tries, “I don’t know if Lena drinks.”

“She does,” Winn says. “I met her at a bar.”

Alex claps her hands together, and the shock of the sound has Kara accidentally jumping and waking Lena. “That settles it, then!” Alex announces. Kara sends a glare at her sister when Lena pulls away from her after being woken.

Lena rapidly blinks the sleep away from her eyes. “Who’s turn is it?” she asks, glancing at the board. She doesn’t seem to register her Millenium Falcon piece lying on a different square.

“Game night’s over because _someone_ couldn’t keep their eyes open,” Winn teases, winks.

Lena doesn’t seem to catch the joke though, because guilt immediately washes over her features; but fortunately, Kara manages to shut it down before it even starts.

“And Winn didn’t want to declare bankruptcy in front of James.”

Winn gasps, affronted, “I am _not_—”

“Yes you are,” Kara and James says in unison.

“_Anyway_,” Alex says over everyone. “So, drinks next week instead of game night? Everyone in? Lena?”

Kara whips her head over at her sister, brows furrowing over the direct question. Something is _definitely_ up, and for an agent of a top secret government agency, Alex is doing a really bad job at trying to play it cool.

“What?” Lena questions, at a loss. She’s just woken up, Winn is bankrupt, game night’s over because of her, and now she’s apparently being invited to drinks. Things can be a tad overwhelming.

“Drinks next week, are you in?” Alex asks.

“Um.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t, we can just have a movie night,” Kara offers.

Lena looks over at Kara, her expression softening, then back at Alex. She seems to contemplate it for a few seconds, but she squares her shoulders as if bracing then says, “Sure, I’m in.”

Kara sighs, she was hoping to rope Lena in with her offer of a movie night, but she can see how being singled out like that (and by Alex, of all people) can be a bit pressuring. She just hopes that whatever Alex is planning, it isn’t _too_ bad. She’s already talked to her sister more than once about crossing the line, maybe this is her chance to prove Kara wrong.

But seeing Lena blush when Alex and James whoops at her agreement to go out for drinks (a bit _too_ enthusiastically on Alex’s part), looking pleased for apparently saying the right thing, she doesn’t think it could be that bad.

How many ways could a night out at the bar go wrong, anyway?

//

With her tired state, Kara doesn't let Lena drive herself home.

"I swear, I'm not that tired," Lena tries.

"Nuh-uh. You spent a quarter of the night fighting off sleep. You _are_ that tired."

A part of Kara wishes she could say _want me to fly you home?_

"What do you suggest then?"

Kara chews on her bottom lip. "I could drive you?"

"You have a car?"

"No," Kara says, "but I can use yours, then I can walk home."

"Absolutely _not_. It's _late_, Kara." Lena points out at the window, like the dark sky furthers her point.

Kara scrunches her face, confused. "So?"

"_So_, it's _late_ and it's _dangerous_."

The muffled noise of a toilet flush, that turns clearer when the door to the bathroom opens, sounds around the room and Alex walks out, wiping her hands with a towel.

"Oh my _god_, I can hear you from the bathroom," she drawls. "I can give Lena a ride home, I have my bike and you still have that helmet I gave you."

Kara's eyebrows shoot up. "_You're_ gonna give her a ride home?"

Alex tosses the towel at Kara's hamper. "Yeah," she says nonchalantly, as if she hadn't just offered to do the most out-of-character gesture ever. She looks over at Lena. "You ready to go?"

It seems like Kara isn't the only one surprised with the development, because Lena's a bit speechless, too. "Uh."

"My offer still stands," Kara says one more time, but Lena looks at her, biting her bottom lip, then sighs quietly and looks at Alex.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Cool. I'll go get Kara's helmet."

Alex goes over to Kara's spare motorcycle, used for whenever she randomly decides to hitch a ride with her sister, currently located on one of the shelves in her bedroom.

"Going once, twice…?" Kara tries, trying to hide the wince from her features because Alex offering to give Lena a ride is _so_ unanticipated and unexpected that Kara is sort of worried of what might come of it.

It was basically unheard of, because the only other person Alex ever allows to tag along on her bike is _her_, and she distinctly remembers Winn asking (begging) for a ride and Alex almost twisting his wrist when he reached for her keys.

So, it's not really Kara's fault that she's a _tiny_ bit worried.

Lena gives her a tired smile, at least. "It's not like you're going to let me drive myself home, and when was the last time you drove?"

Kara blushes. "When I got my license two years ago."

This makes Lena laugh. "Yeah, no."

"I drove a motorcycle last year," she grumbles.

Lena is still laughing when she says, "Well that's something I'd like to see."

Alex walks back to the living room, helmet in hand. "We going?" she asks Lena when she hands it to her.

Lena accepts the helmet, holding it as if it's some sort of foreign technology. "Oh, yep."

Her sister watches Lena inspect the helmet, fascinated and curious. When the woman doesn't make a move, Alex quips, "It goes on your head."

Kara sends a glare at Alex that goes largely ignored, while Lena's face turns beet red at the teasing remark. "I know," she mumbles. She looks about to wear it, but decides against it and says instead, "Let's go."

//

The offer comes from nowhere.

She knows it draws suspicion, Kara's incredulous look once it leaves her mouth is evidence enough of that.

But she's been having a good day, her plan coming to fruition, but hearing her sister and Lena bicker from the bathroom over basically who could worry over the other more was sounding a little pathetic, so she decides to offer to bring Lena home as nonchalantly as she could.

And it even furthers her theory to see Lena looking at her motorcycle like it's a spaceship through the big helmet on her head.

She straddles her bike with ease, the movement pretty much muscle memory at this point. When Lena doesn't make a move to do the same, she says, "Hop on."

It snaps Lena out of it, and she moves to sit behind Alex.

Alex starts the engine, and it revs loudly to life. "Better hold on."

"On what?" Lena shouts over the sound.

The answer becomes clear when Alex doesn't give her enough time to adjust, immediately bursting into speed. Lena yelps when she jerks back, no choice but to hold onto Alex, grabbing onto her waist and hugging her with a death grip.

From her peripheral, she sees her phone light up with a text from the little phone grip she set up on her bike.

**Kara Danvers [1:12 AM]:** slow down!

_Of course_ her sister would be watching above them.

As retaliation, she steps on the gas a little harder and the bike goes faster. She missed seeing a hump when she read Kara's text; they accidentally go flying for a few split seconds and Lena screams into her ear.

**Kara Danvers [1:13 AM]:** be careful!!!!!

_Then don't distract the driver_, she thinks back.

They manage to reach Lena’s apartment in a few more minutes with Alex constantly challenging the speed limit. The bike barely comes to a full stop when Lena’s already scrambling off of it, ripping the helmet off her head. She bends over, resting her hands on her knees, and Alex is half expecting her to start dry heaving.

“You good?” she asks.

Lena whips around to face her, eyes wild; and if she had super hearing right about now, she’s sure to hear her heart threatening to break out of her ribcage. “Yeah,” the other woman answers in a wheeze.

She hears her phone vibrate again with another text, and she’s sure it’s Kara. “You better text Kara and tell her you’re not dead,” Alex tells her.

Lena picks her phone out of her pocket, screen already lit up from what Alex is certain a multitude of texts from Kara (because of superspeed, Kara can type an astounding amount of words per minute).

Alex looks at her own phone, grabbing it while it’s vibrating crazily where it’s perched.

**Kara Danvers [1:14 AM]: **YOU DIDN’T WATCH OUT FOR HUMPS

**Kara Danvers [1:16 AM]: **slow down!!!!!!

**Kara Danvers [1:17 AM]:** i can hear her from up here

**Alex Danvers [1:22 AM]:** Where are u?

**Kara Danvers [1:23 AM]: **the rooftop.

She looks back at Lena, who’s tapping away on her phone.

“Hey,” she calls.

Lena looks up, eyebrows raised. A few seconds pass and she shakes her head, giving back the helmet she’s been holding and Alex reaches for it without getting off the bike. “Um, thanks for the ride,” Lena tells her, considerably calmer.

“No problem.” Not wanting to stay any further, Alex puts her phone back in place and nods at Lena, who nods back. She snaps her helmet’s visor down and starts her engine, not looking back when she rides off.

//

Kara expects Lena to march straight into her apartment to crash on her bed, but she sees her through her x-ray vision hanging out in her stairway, fiddling with her phone.

She looks back at her own, expecting to see the typing indicator on their text thread, but her last one hasn’t even been answered yet (but she sends another, just in case).

**Kara Danvers [1:10 AM]:** sorry for what’s about to happen :(

**Kara Danvers [1:13 AM]:** text me when you’re home?

**Kara Danvers [1:16 AM]:** are you guys okay???

**Kara Danvers [1:19 AM]:** are you home?

**Lena Kieran [1:21 AM]:** Just got home.

**Kara Danvers [1:21 AM]:** ok, are you going to sleep?

**Kara Danvers [1:27 AM]: **Lena? are you okay?

She gives Lena a few minutes to answer back before checking in on her again, but she hears the door leading into the rooftop opening and suddenly she’s leaping into the sky, past the clouds, and when she looks back down, she sees Lena stepping into the rooftop.

_Oh._

She lets out a quiet sigh of relief that she decided to slip into her Supergirl regalia before flying out her window.

Lena paces across the space, pulling out something from her pocket and fiddling with her phone.

And Kara waits it out in the sky, because she’s pretty sure Lena’s about to call for Supergirl since this has sort of been their _spot_, unless Lena actually has a habit to hang around her apartment’s rooftop (she doubts it, the place is dingy, unmaintained, and there are no chairs around for lounging).

Then, she hears it; _“Supergirl?”_

She doesn’t wait another second before flying back to the rooftop—but she _should_ have, she later admits, because Lena yelps and jumps when she lands in front of her.

“Sorry!” she apologizes hurriedly, reaching a hand out to balance Lena back on her feet.

“No, it’s alright, you’re just, um… faster than usual.”

Kara flushes, but she manages to slip back in the usual air of confidence Supergirl exudes. “I was in the area.”

Lena straightens, regaining her balance. "Oh, is everything alright?"

It catches Kara off-guard, because Lena usually jumps straight into business whenever they do this. "Yes, just doing my usual night time patrol."

Lena looks curious when she asks, "Do you do that, usually?"

"Uh, yeah, most of the time. When I'm not that tired."

"How about day time patrols?"

"Oh, no—I got… stuff to do?" Kara hesitates. "During the day."

Lena's eyebrows shoot up slightly. "A day job?"

Kara's posture stiffens, eyes wide. "Uh…"

A few beats pass between them, until Lena clears her throat and reaches her hand out, presenting a small, inconspicuous flash drive on her palm. “LuthorCorp’s research on inaudible frequencies and its effects on physiology. They called it the hypersonic effect.”

She carefully reaches for it, inspecting the device.

“There’s a fail-safe, it automatically corrupts the file three minutes after it’s plugged in. You have to be a little fast.”

“Thank you,” Kara says, sincerely.

Realization dawns on Kara as to why Lena’s been so tired, she’s been doing _this_. A wave of admiration hits her.

“What are you going to do with it?” Lena asks.

“I’m going to give it to the people I work with to be reviewed, and have it hopefully connected with the robbers’ deaths,” Kara answers.

“How useful do you think it’s gonna be?”

Kara pauses, gives it a thought. “I don’t know,” she says truthfully. “What exactly did you want to happen, giving this to me?”

Lena sighs. “I don’t know.”

//

Kara leaves more confused about the entire thing than not.

Sure, having a potential lead on the robbers’ deaths is always a good thing, but relating it to Cadmus and somehow involving LuthorCorp and the _Luthors_ into it opens up a whole new can of worms.

Because the _Luthors_ were supposed to be Superman’s turf, but somehow they ended up in National City and Kara is feeling a whole different level of threat; because if _Superman_ had trouble bringing Lex Luthor to his knees, how could she even stand a chance?

_No_, Kara thinks, _I’ll be strong enough when I have to be._

//

Kara shows the flash drive and its contents to Winn first.

“That’s ridiculous, Lex Luthor is like, in solitary confinement or something,” he says, skeptical.

“Lex isn’t the only Luthor,” Kara tells him.

“Are you saying all Luthors are bad?” Winn asks, spinning around in his chair to face the superhero. “Because that’s a little extreme… even for you.”

“Winn, no,” Kara scrunches her brows. “Of course not. But the only people who have enough clearance to actually access these files come from high enough in LuthorCorp’s hierarchy to suggest it could be a Luthor themself.”

“How’d you even get this?”

She gives him a look. “How else do you think?”

Winn stares at her for a moment, then gasps, kicking and rolling away until he scoots closer. “You’ve been talking to _Lena_ as _Supergirl_!?” he hisses, outraged.

“She has potentially useful information and I made the time to listen to her,” she says, crossing her arms.

“But you’re friends with her as _Kara_! Don’t you have _any_ idea how dangerous that could be? What if she puts it together that you’re Supergirl!?”

“She _won’t_.”

“How could you be so sure!”

“I just am!” she throws her arms up, exasperated.

There’s a part of her that wants to say _what could be so bad about her finding out?_

“Okay, okay,” Winn holds his hands out in surrender. “I’ll check it out, do some major digging on anything LuthorCorp, but you’re the one who’s gonna have to tell Alex.”

“Yeah, I will,” she grumbles out, in a foul mood.

She marches out of the command center in search of her sister, leaving behind Winn with a concerned expression.

//

Kara storms into Alex’s lab in a series of doors thrown open and heavy steps.

“I have to tell you something,” Kara says.

Alex pulls back from her microscope, pushing against the table to roll her stool away and lean against it with her elbow. She watches Kara pace the space in front of her, hands on her waist.

“I have to tell you something,” she repeats, “and I want you to let me finish before shouting, or—or telling me it’s a bad idea, because I already _know_, but you just gotta trust me, alright?”

Alex’s eyebrows shoot up. “Alright.”

“LuthorCorp might be involved with Cadmus.”

Immediately, a wild number of scenarios enter her mind, but before she can voice them out, Kara’s holding a hand up to stop her.

“I said let me finish.”

Sighing, she slumps down on her stool and gestures for her to continue.

“First, let me reiterate; LuthorCorp _might_ be involved with Cadmus,” Kara repeats, putting emphasis on the word _might_. “I’m not sure yet, but I’ve given Winn what I know and he’s going to look into it.”

“And what _do_ you know?” Alex asks, unable to stay quiet any further.

“I was getting to that, and you have to _trust me_, okay? Because if this gets out too early and it’s _actually_ true—” Kara stops, takes a deep breathe. “I’ll start from the beginning.”

Then Kara starts from the beginning.

//

“And that’s why we have to keep quiet while we investigate it,” Kara continues. Alex hasn’t once tried to interrupt during her tale, and it might be a little odd. “If it gets out that we so much as _suspect_ LuthorCorp’s involvement, there’s no telling how they’ll retaliate, they might speed up whatever plan they have or disappear altogether.”

And, much to Kara’s surprise, Alex just nods when she finishes.

Alex crosses her arms, one coming up to tap on her chin, seemingly deep in thought after the information Kara’s just told her, and Kara just watches in trepidation, still wary of what Alex might make of it all.

“You’re right,” Alex finally says after several minutes, and Kara’s jaw drops.

“I… I am?”

Alex nods, still looking off in the distance with thoughts probably running around in her head. “The Luthors are… tricky to deal with. This way, we might be a step ahead of them.”

Kara only nods back, surprised at the turn of events; with Alex’s track record, she was expecting another round of their debate on whether it’s right to bring Lena into the DEO or not. “Yeah, yeah,” she says, “That’s what I was thinking.”

“I’ll have Winn dig into everything he can get his hands on about the Luthors. We still don’t know the entirety of their involvement, but that’s a good place to start.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. And…” Kara hesitates. “And Lena?”

Alex closes her eyes briefly, letting out a sigh through her nose while her jaw clenches—a nervous tick that Kara recognizes. “I’ll think about it.”

//

The three of them look over the contents of the flash drive together.

“This is pretty groundbreaking stuff,” Alex says in awe, skimming through the pages. When they get to the trial results, she winces. “But I can see why it was discontinued.”

Kara gapes at the x-ray on the screen, horrified. “And the subject didn’t _die_?”

“Subject sustained serious brain damage,” Winn reads out the annotation. “Doesn’t really say anything else beyond that.”

“Geeze,” Kara huffs out.

“Okay, this just proves that LuthorCorp was doing some pretty shady research, but what else?” Winn brings up.

Alex chews on her bottom lip, thinking. “We need to compare it to the robbers’ autopsy reports.”

“How are you gonna get that?” Winn asks.

Alex shrugs. “I have my ways. Give me a few days.”

//

Alex manages to retrieve the robbers’ autopsy reports from Maggie.

She, Kara, and Winn gather around her lab PC and she brings up the robbers’ x-ray side-by-side with the x-ray from LuthorCorp’s research.

“Yep,” Winn mutters, staring at the screen. “I think that just proves it.”

Kara pinches at the bridge of her nose, looking away.

Alex fiddles more with the display, examining it. “And it seems like they’ve _improved_ it, too. I mean, obviously. It’s definitely lethal now.”

“How do you think they did it?” Kara asks. “Lena said it’d be difficult to replicate the experiment.”

She skims through the autopsy reports, cross-referencing it with the document. “I can’t be entirely sure, they might’ve just used a more potent concentration of the chemical. I’m gonna have to study it more.”

“And luckily, I’ve started looking into LuthorCorp,” Winn says. “I wasn’t really able to dig too invasively because I don’t know their security, I didn’t want to risk it.”

Alex nods at him, then looks at her sister. “You guys can start on that while I work on this.”

//

Kara follows Winn to his new station. It turns out hacking into LuthorCorp’s cyber fortress needed more resources than the one he had in his old set up. “Like I said, I couldn’t really do too much invasive digging, I didn’t really want to risk it,” he explains, dropping on his chair. “But I still got quite a fair bit.”

He lights up his screen and it becomes a mess of various documents, and Kara searches through it until a particular one catches her eye—an accounting sheet, with a date just a few weeks before the Alien Amnesty Act was signed.

“Can you bring that up?” she says, pointing at it. “What is it?”

Winn looks at it for a moment before saying, “Looks like a ledger. Snagged it from an unsecure mail server. Someone from inside LuthorCorp sent it to a hotmail address. Always a bad idea.”

“Look at the date.”

Winn looks at it, confused.

Kara rolls her eyes. “It’s just days apart from the Venture explosion!”

“Oh!”

“And look,” Kara points at one of the rows on the document, “That isn’t just _any_ record, that’s _several billion dollars_.”

“In shares,” Winn clarifies.

“It’s still a significantly large amount. Who was LuthorCorp’s majority shareholder?”

His eyes light up in realization. “Lex!”

“Exactly,” Kara says.

“But,” Winn squints at the screen, “this is a stock transfer, and it’s weeks _after_ he was arrested. That doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe it was transferred before, and this is another one. Who would Lex trust LuthorCorp with?”

“Uh, give me a moment.” Winn fiddles with the computer, until someone’s profile appears on the screen with a picture of a well-kept and well-dressed woman. “Lillian Luthor. Lex Luthor’s mother.”

“It has to be her. It _should_ be her.” Something’s not quite clicking in Kara’s mind. “Who’s LuthorCorp’s CEO now?”

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Winn says, “They haven’t really released any sort of statement after Lex’s arrest. No new projects or anything.”

“That doesn’t seem like the Luthors,” she thinks aloud. “They like to keep quiet, but they still like to control the narrative. They say just about what’s enough to appease the public, but not total silence.”

At Winn’s confused look, Kara feels the need to explain, “Kal and I had a lot of conversations about Lex when he was in National City for a few days. He knew him, knew how the Luthors worked.”

“So this behavior doesn’t seem very _Luthor_-like, so to speak.”

“Not at all.”

//

Alex stays true to her words and thinks about bringing Lena into the DEO.

She’s always been protective of Kara; yes, she’s an impervious alien with super strength that can probably beat her in a fight with a flick of her finger, but she can’t _help_ it. She discovered her as a sad, vulnerable, pre-teen that just lost her entire world and sometimes that’s how she still sees her.

(Kara’s _very_ aware of this, and _very_ annoyed by it.)

Her coming out as Supergirl definitely both quelled and boiled over her protectiveness, but it’s also something she recognizes that Kara _needs_, and it’s fine, Alex adapts to it and supports her, trains her, prepares her for whatever alien threat might come.

And that’s familiar territory, Alex thinks, dealing with alien threats. It’s just a matter of finding their weakness.

But the Luthors are different. It’s sort of ironic, how the beings capable of harming her sister the most are _humans_. Because to put it simply, Kryptonians are the most powerful beings on the planet, and it was a measly _human_ that was able to bring one to their knees, closest to the brink of death.

And it’s not like Alex can just barge into their secret hideout and beat them into a bloody pulp and tell them to stop.

It changes the game, because the Luthors are calculated, their moves are careful, and Alex has an idea of the cost of making one wrong move against them.

And the wrong move in this case would be letting it know that they _know_ something (or suspecting something, at least), because the Luthors still think they’re operating underground, from behind Cadmus’ mask.

“Alex?”

She swerves on her chair, meeting Winn’s eyes as he carefully steps into her lab. It’s been a few days since they’ve made any progress on the Luthors, and it’s been proving to be quite the daunting task for the tech wiz.

“I think I’ve got something.”

Alex nods once, steps up from her station wordlessly, takes off her gear, and follows Winn back to his station.

“So I’ve been so busy looking up on the two Luthors currently alive that I’ve been neglecting the other one,” he explains first, bringing up a profile of Lionel Luthor, the deceased former patriarch of the Luthor family. “And here’s a copy of his will.”

“What,” Alex recoils. “How did you even get that?”

“I’ll explain later, just _look_,” he points at one of the paragraphs on the document.

_I give all my tangible assets to my children who survives me, to be distributed equally—_

“Wait,” Alex stops. “He says _children_.”

“_Exactly_.”

“Does Lex have siblings?”

“None that I know of.”

“So that means—”

“There’s _another_, _secret_ Luthor!” Winn excitedly finishes for her.

Something akin to dread shoots down Alex’s spine. “We need to tell Kara.”

//

“Do we know their name, at least?” Kara asks, arms crossed as she stares at the screen in front of her.

“I’ve been looking through all the news articles that mention the Luthors, and there isn’t a single mention of any other Luthor besides Lionel, Lillian, and Lex,” Winn tells her.

“Any working theories, then?”

“Uh,” Winn looks at Alex. “A secret, second family?”

Kara nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. So we don’t have anything else to go on?”

“None so far, but Winn’s going to keep looking,” Alex says. “Whoever they are, they could still be a prime suspect.”

Kara chews on her bottom lip. “I don’t know, it just seems like uncovering irrelevant Luthor family drama. Or irrelevant to what we need to focus on, at least. We don’t really have time for that.”

“It’s still the _Luthors_,” Alex argues. “They’re probably still up to no good. And the entire world just having no idea you exist? Imagine what you can get away with.”

“But just consider,” Kara starts, “What if whoever this other, mysterious Luthor is, they _aren’t_ the culprit? We’d be wasting our time and resources looking into them when we could be missing the actual picture.”

“They could still be—”

“Look,” Kara interrupts again, “I know you guys. If this Luthor was any sort of troublemaker, they’d have blipped your radar at least once. But they haven’t. They could be the black sheep of their family, maybe that’s why the Luthors kept them a secret.”

Alex sighs, and Winn looks pensive when he says, “She has a point.”

“Yeah,” Alex agrees. “So we focus on the Luthor that we _do_ know.”

Winn twists his chair to face back on his computer. “Lillian Luthor it is.”

“I still want information on the other Luthor,” Alex says, “but focus more on Lillian.”

Kara internally grumbles, but it’s the best she can do. While Alex prefers to be meticulous, Kara never wants to waste any more time and effort on something when it could be expended on a lead that’s much more reliable, and she likes to think that she knows enough about the Luthors from what Kal has told her.

And she does understand wanting to know about the other Luthor—she gets it, she’s curious too; the idea that a family as famous and significant as the Luthors hiding one of their own is something unheard of, but she can’t ignore that constant nagging in her gut; that focusing too much into this other one would be the wrong move.

//

Progress is slow when it comes to uncovering the connection between the Luthors and Cadmus; they know it’s _there_, but actually knowing how deep it goes, and what they’re up to is the mystery.

It stays there, in the back of Kara’s mind, as she goes about the rest of her week.

(Lena’s starting to notice too, that Kara’s attention seems to drift off during their lunch breaks and something in Kara’s chest clenches whenever she asks her what’s bothering her and she always has to make up some stupid excuse about Snapper.)

In fact, it becomes so much of a stressor that when the end of the week comes, Kara’s actually glad that Alex suggested going to the bar for drinks instead of having game night, so she doesn’t have the extra strain of having to play host for her friends.

//

Friday night arrives, and Lena doesn’t know what to expect when she leaves the CatCo building with Kara and James to walk just a few blocks away to a cryptic address Alex has texted them.

It leads them to a secluded alley, the street light at the opening conveniently flickering just to add the perfect amount of _creepy_ that the location effortlessly emulates.

Along with the address, Alex’s instructions just tell them to knock on the blue metal door, followed by the word _Dollywood_.

They successfully locate the blue metal door.

The three of them pause in front of it.

Kara, who has been leading them the entire time, glances from her lit up phone screen and back at the door. “Uh, I guess this is it,” she says.

James looks skeptical. Lena just looks at the two of them.

When neither moves, Kara tentatively knocks on the door three times.

A voice booms from the door that makes Lena jump, and Kara reaches out to steady her.

“Password,” the grumby voice says. If anything, Lena thinks it kind of sounds like a snarl, a very _non-human_ snarl.

Kara gives her a look that can only be described as _what the heck_, and says, unsurely, “Uh, Dollywood?”

//

Alex is already there with Winn when they get inside the bar.

There’s already a line of shots on the booth they’re in, and Alex only says, “To get the night started,” when Kara eyes the drinks.

They drink it all together and Kara shudders at the taste of alcohol.

Alex immediately stands after taking hers, and she hears her say, “Keep the drinks coming,” to the bartender.

It’s only when everyone gets settled that Kara starts surveying the surroundings—and it doesn’t look like anything special, it looks like any of the dive bars you’d see in the movies, except the pool table looks less than well-maintained with drink stains on the cloth, but the look of the bar isn’t what makes this establishment different than most, no.

It’s the _patrons_.

When Kara looks closer, that’s when she sees it; one of the customers sitting on the bar has pointy ears, another one sitting on a secluded corner is lighting their cigarette with their fire lit finger, and another has _scales_ covering their body.

Kara lets out a quiet gasp, and beside her, she hears Lena do the same.

“This is an alien bar,” Kara says, a hint of reverence in her tone. “Wow.”

“It’s amazing,” she hears Lena say.

And she’s about to say something more, but another bartender is slamming down a tray of drinks in front of them before she gets the chance to.

//

Everyone matches each other in drinks for the first few shots, but Winn challenges James to a pool match (which Kara finds weird because Winn doesn’t even play pool), but James agrees, anyway.

Despite being in an alien bar and having the actual option of getting drinks that could _actually_ get her drunk, Kara opts out with the reason that a Supergirl emergency might come up that requires her attention.

It proves to be a smart choice, when a Supergirl emergency _does_ come up; an on-going robbery in one of the small businesses two blocks away. She excuses herself to the bathroom, and M’gann leads her to a lesser-known exit to make her leave.

And it’s when Kara leaves for a Supergirl emergency that Alex takes her chance.

“Starhaven calls this the _blood of the gods_,” M’gann tells her. “It’s just fancy wine for them, but for humans it hits hard and fast.” She pours a glass of the blue, shimmering liquor into a tall glass. Then, she drops another glass onto the counter, with blue liquid of a similar shade, pushing it towards Alex. “And this is blue lemonade.”

Alex takes both. “Thanks.”

Lena drinks it all in one go.

And it hits Lena _hard_ and _fast_, because in no less than 10 minutes, she’s staring at Alex through the bottom of her glass, fashioning it as a telescope, giggling as if she’s seeing the funniest thing she’s ever seen.

“There are so _many_ of you,” she snorts.

_When_ is Kara coming back?

And as if summoned, Lena perks up in front of her, her faux-telescope swaying away from her and towards a figure behind Alex.

“Kara!” She sounds _way_ too cheery. “Where’d you go?” she asks, still looking through the glass.

“The… bathroom?” Kara answers, unsure, and looking at Lena weirdly. “What are you doing?”

Lena’s back immediately straightens, her eyebrows drawing down (although the glass is still perched up in front of her). “It’s a kaleidoscope,” she says, in sudden seriousness.

Kara blinks for several seconds, and Alex shifts her look towards the glass in her hands. There are various diamond shapes adorning it.

“It’s a glass,” Kara replies, eyes darting from the object and Lena. “Are you drunk already?”

Lena makes a _pfft_ sound, slamming the glass back down the table, shaking everything on top, and waving a dismissive hand at Kara. “_No_,” she says in a way that completely suggests the opposite.

Kara tilts her head to the side, leaning closer to get a better look at Lena. “I think you are.”

Lena snorts, bringing up both her hands to clasp onto each side of Kara’s face. “Im-_poss_-ible,” she insists, emphasizing her point by jostling Kara’s head on each syllable, and the blonde has no choice but to let her, her eyes wide. “I have _phenomenal_ alcohol tolerance.”

Alex takes her leave after that particular display, mood a little more reserved now that she may have proved that Lena’s a human.

(She still can’t be sure though, Alex thinks. Maybe the Starhaven liquor could hit several species of aliens as hard and fast as it did affect Lena.)

She dwells near the bar, and M’gann approaches her.

“How’s the drink?” she asks.

“Oh,” Alex replies, “yeah, the blue lemonade was fine.”

“No, the _other_ one.”

Alex looks over at Kara and Lena at their booth and sees a much more tame Lena sitting slumped over the table with Kara sitting across from her. “Uh, it was pretty effective, I guess. Drank it all in one go.”

She misses the way M’gann’s eyes bulge out of its sockets. “In _one_ go?”

Alex looks back at the bartender. “Yeah, why?”

M’gann blinks, her eyes following where Alex has been looking prior. “You guys are gonna have a pretty short night.”

//

Kara rarely goes out to drink; mainly because human alcohol doesn’t affect her at all, but also because clubs tend to be too noisy and rowdy for her (the last time she was in a club was when she was under the influence of Red K—she remembers with a wince), and thus she’s never really had to deal with the gripes of drunken-ness, and more specifically, her friends’ drunken-ness.

However, she listens to Lena with a sort of fascination as she rambles on about the etymology of the word kaleidoscope.

“It means, like, _beauty_ in Greek. And it’s okay because kaleidoscopes _are_ pretty, don’t you think so?”

Kara blinks, then nods when she realizes Lena has asked her a question. “Yeah.” In truth, Kara didn’t really have an opinion of the objects before now, but they are pretty, if she thinks about it.

Lena nods along, pleased with her answer. “My brother had one, he never really used it, but I saw it and liked it when I was new so he gave it to me.”

Kara’s eyebrows shoot up at the new information. _She has a brother_, she thinks, and Kara’s a little conflicted on whether to stop her or not, but at the same time, Kara kind of craves for little snippets of Lena’s life.

Then Lena slumps on the table, the glass (or kaleidoscope, as Lena continues to call it) tipping sideways. She rolls it along the table with a finger. “Then I broke it.”

“Oh.”

Lena is silent after that, and Kara wonders if this is what they call a _sad drunk_. But Lena suddenly sits up, eyes wide and looking at something behind Kara. She looks behind herself, alarmed, but only sees the corner of the bar filled with different sorts of bar games, Kara guesses.

“Darts!” Lena nearly screams, shooting up to her feet and racing towards the darts board.

But Kara only processes _sharp objects_ and _drunks_, and the fact that they shouldn’t be anywhere near each other, and she chases after the rambunctious drunk as fast as her human pace allows her. “Lena, no!” she tries, arms outstretched to hopefully snag the woman back to their safe booth.

She cheats and maybe uses her super speed to overtake the woman, blocking her path to the dart board.

“Kara!” Lena whines.

(It almost makes Kara snort, this is _such_ a ridiculous situation, and drunk Lena brings out different sides of the normally put-together woman that Kara never thought she had.)

“No darts,” Kara says. “They’re _pointy_ and can hurt you.”

“_You’re_ pointy,” Lena says back, pouting.

_What does that even mean?_ She takes a hold of Lena’s shoulders and turns her around, leading her back to their booth. “We can play darts when you’re _sober_, I’m sure Alex has a set. She likes those types of games.”

She tries to sit Lena back down on the booth, but suddenly the woman swerves, and with the implication of accidentally injuring her, Kara is forced to follow along. “Kara, look!” Lena excitably says, twisting around and using her as a shield, peeking above her shoulder.

_How is she supposed to look at where she’s pointing like this?_

“I know him!”

Kara tries to turn around, but resorts to twisting her neck to look behind her, and lo and behold, she sees Mon-El wiping down the bar with a rag. “You _know_ him? _How_?”

“I saw him with Finn-or-Winn—I mean _Winn_. I think he’s an alien.”

_Oh, right._ Kara rolls her eyes at that memory.

Kara looks around the bar, and sees different kinds of aliens in the vicinity. “Lena, we’re at an alien bar.”

“Yes, duh, I know that,” Lena says, as if Kara’s just said the silliest thing ever. “But _he_ looks _human_.”

“Supergirl also looks human.”

Lena pauses. “Is he _like_ Supergirl?” she asks, looking up at her in awe.

Kara scrunches her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Is he, like, _Kryptonian_ like Supergirl.”

“Is he—_what_—” The reaction that question garners in Kara is so visceral she’s almost tempted to crash through the bar’s ceiling. “He is _not_ Kryptonian!”

Lena doesn’t notice the inner turmoil she’s seemingly sent the reporter in, as she continues to stare past Kara’s shoulders at the bartender. “I’m gonna go talk to him.” Then, she marches past Kara and to the bar.

Kara barely manages to school herself until Mon-El notices them approaching, shooting them his signature boyish smirk then swinging his towel over his shoulders in one smooth motion. “Hello, ladies!” he greets, leaning forward on the bar with his forearms.

“Hello, sir,” Lena greets back. It could be the perfect greeting if not for her slurring voice.

From behind Lena, Kara frantically shakes her head at Mon-El, hopefully correctly signalling him to _pretend we don’t know each other!!!_

Mon-El only winks at her, and Kara rolls her eyes.

“What can I get you?” Mon-El asks, the smirk on his face persisting.

“Yes,” Lena replies, as if that’s an apt response to his question. “I would like some answers.”

The smirk on Mon-El’s face falters a little bit. “What?”

Lena leans closer to him, and Kara leans forward too, if only for anticipation. She’s finding drunk Lena particularly theatric.

In a whisper, Lena asks, “Are you an alien?”

Kara almost wants to facepalm, she thought Lena would _at least_ be subtle, but it’s a good thing Mon-El isn’t particularly that much of a threat, anyway.

Mon-El’s eyes widen with realization, recognizing Lena. “Oh, I know you! You’re the raven-haired healer at the bar from me and Winn’s partying.”

Lena tilts her head at him, looking at him studiously. “_Raven_-haired?”

“Yes, a type of bird native to earth. It closely resembles the color black,” Mon-El says, proud of this piece of knowledge.

Lena slumps on the table. “Yep, you’re an alien,” she sighs. She looks at Kara. “He’s an alien.”

“I mean, we’re at an alien bar,” Kara reminds her.

Lena nods at Kara’s answer. She looks back at Mon-El. “My name is Lena. This is Kara. We work at CatCo.” She extends her hand. “Please don’t break my hand.”

Mon-El takes her hand, shakes it once. “I am Mon-El of Daxam. I work here.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mon-El of Daxam.” (Kara sighs behind her. She figures Mon-El being exposed as an alien permits foregoing his human identity.) “Kara and I will be leaving you now.”

The odd interaction seemingly done, Kara gladly pulls Lena back to their booth, and sits her down. She’s about to settle across from her when Lena grabs onto her coat, and just allows herself to be pulled down beside her.

Lena sits sideways at the booth, facing Kara. “Supergirl is much more impressive.”

The statement comes from nowhere. “_What_?” Kara asks, flabbergasted.

“I thought meeting aliens would be as impressive as meeting Supergirl,” Lena explains. “But it turns out it’s just Supergirl that’s impressive.”

Heat rises up Kara’s cheeks. “Oh?” she squeaks.

“Yes, it turns out aliens are just as mundane as humans. It’s relieving.”

“Relieving?”

“Yes, they always get a bad rap, like they’re so dangerous,” Lena says, shrugging her shoulders. “But seriously, look. They’re just like us, at a bar and drinking drinks. Like me.” She looks up, deep in thought, then continues, “But I’m also fairly sure that Supergirl goes to the bar to drink drinks from time to time.”

Kara can’t help but snort, the irony of Lena’s statement not lost on her.

//

Alex watches her sister and Lena from the safe distance of the bar. She almost misses seeing Maggie enter, but she manages to wave her over.

The cop eyes the two drinks in Alex’s reach. “One of those for me?”

Alex mentally goes over the rest of her plan for the evening. “Oh, uh…”

Maggie squints at the glasses. “Wait, is that—” she leans closer, then her eyes widen as she pushes it off the bar, only for it to be caught by M’gann on the other side. “That’s Aldebaran Rum!”

The other woman startles at the reaction. “Yeah, I know?”

“That’s highly toxic to humans!”

“Not aliens,” Alex reasons.

Maggie, however, is not appeased. “Then why do _you_ have it?”

“Uh…” Alex trails off, eyes going back to Kara and Lena chatting on the booth. She sighs, facing back at Maggie. She trusts her, for some reason. Maybe not with everything, but she trusts her enough. “Remember Lena Kieran, the woman from the Alien Amnesty Signing and the bar? I think she’s an alien.”

The incredulous look Maggie gives her isn’t what she was expecting, however. “So, what, you’re gonna give her what could essentially be _poison_ to her to prove a _hunch_?”

Alex just about manages to avoid wincing—she feels weirdly chastised; just now realizing how un-thought-out her plan is.

(There it is again, Alex thinks—her protectiveness of Kara making her act irrationally extreme. Kara has told her again and again to stop; it’s weird that it takes Maggie having to point it out for the ridiculousness of her plan to finally dawn on her.)

Alex shoulders slump down in shame, her cheeks burning red, and Maggie sighs as she settles on the stool in front of Alex, twisting around to face her.

“Even if she was an alien,” Maggie says, “you’re the outsider here—hell, _we’re_ the outsider here. This is the aliens’ spot, their sanctuary. You know, I brought you here so you could see how normal aliens are, not so you could use it as a place to catch them off-guard.”

Her voice turns a touch hostile at the end, and Alex fails to hide her wince this time. “I’m sorry,” she says quickly. “You’re right, I—”

“And I get it,” Maggie interrupts her, “it’s literally your job to protect us from extraterrestrial threats, but there’s a line you can’t cross when you’re in that kind of position, and it’s important to know that.”

Alex feels well and truly scolded now. “You’re right,” she sighs. She slides the remaining glass by her elbow on the bar towards Maggie. “This is just regular whiskey, you can have it.”

Maggie accepts it, downing it in one drink. “I know you mean well, Danvers,” she says, and twists around to look at where Kara and Lena are. “That your sister?”

“Yeah. They work at the same company.”

“They seem close,” she comments. “And I’m guessing you got all protective _because_ they’re getting close.”

“...yeah.”

“You’re a good person, Danvers,” Maggie smiles, but she stands from her stool. “But it’s kinda obvious that you didn’t invite me here for the reason I was hoping for.”

Alex stills, eyes widening. “What?”

Maggie laughs at her expression, reaching into her pocket and placing a crisp 20 dollar bill on the bar. “Buy yourself a drink on me, yeah?”

Alex gapes at her, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

But Maggie’s already halfway across the bar when Alex collects her senses.

//

Lena’s energy goes from 100 to 0 in the space of a few minutes.

“More games?” Lena asks her, eyes wide and curious. They’ve launched into the discussion of the Star Wars Monopoly set they played in their last game night, which turned into Kara telling Lena about the different, novelty versions of Monopoly board game sets, and that Kara knows a place where she can get the _really_ limited edition ones.

“Yeah!”

A wide, giddy smile blooms on Lena’s face; it’s not the shy, held-back ones Kara usually sees on her, and she doesn’t dip her head down like she does, instead she’s moving forward, throwing her arms up and basically tackling Kara.

“Oh!” If not for her super strength they both would’ve been sprawling on the floor right now, but instead Kara catches her in a hug, surprised.

She feels Lena sag in her arms, feels the vibrations in her chest when she mumbles out a “…’ve never had a friend like you…” and then Kara’s just carrying Lena’s entire weight.

“Lena?” She looks down at the woman in her arms, but her eyes are closed and when Kara gives her a nudge, her head just tilts limply to the side. She gives her a little shake, testing if she’ll wake up, but it does nothing. Lena’s out cold.

Winn and James come strolling into the booth, laughing about their pool match and pauses at the sight of a slumped Lena in Kara’s arms.

James points at her with the bottle of beer in his hands, brows furrowed. “Is she—?”

“Passed out drunk,” Kara finishes for him.

Lena throws a hand out suddenly, still unconscious, and accidentally slaps Kara’s glasses out of her face, while she hurriedly puts it back in place while glancing around the bar if anyone saw.

“I think I need to bring her home,” Kara says.

“Do you know where she lives?” James asks, settling down on the seat across from them.

“Yeah, but I don’t know where her keys are.”

“Why don’t you bring her back to your place?” Winn suggests.

“Oh,” Kara thinks about it. “I could do that.”

She doesn’t see James and Winn exchange curious glances.

“Saves me from worrying about whatever hangover she’s gonna get in a few hours,” Kara resolves, trying to fix Lena’s slumped posture against her. She still tries to be gentle, even though Lena shows no sign of waking up despite any kind of movement. When Lena is finally in what Kara deems as a comfortable enough position, she looks back at the boys. “Think I could fly her in this state?”

Lena starts to lightly snore, and the answer becomes clear.

Kara twists around to look for Alex, but sees her talking to her cop friend, Maggie. She wonders why she didn’t introduce her to the rest of the group, but it looks like a serious conversation that Kara has enough sense about to not eavesdrop on.

“Can you tell Alex that Lena and I are gonna get going?” she asks Winn and James.

They both nod, agreeing with a _sure_.

Kara leaves no longer after that, collecting the other woman in her arms, essentially carrying her bridal style, as she quietly takes her leave from the bar. M’gann pointed her to a much more secluded exit when she had to take her leave for a Supergirl emergency a while ago, and she leaves through there, exiting to the bar’s back alley.

She doesn’t bother changing into her super suit, refusing to let go of Lena just anywhere, and she takes to the skies in her civilian clothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long. I got so busy, sorry - and I also apologize in advance for slow future updates. Hopefully 2 months between chapters is the longest I go!


	12. Chapter 12

Kara sleeps on the couch that night, having deposited Lena on her bed. She wakes up before her, and she prepares breakfast for the two of them (she didn’t even burn the eggs!), and even pats herself on the back when she manages to help with a two-car collision and gets back to her apartment before Lena wakes up.

But hours pass, and eventually lunch time rolls by, and Lena doesn’t wake up.

She looks through the divider of her bedroom with her x-ray vision and sees the other woman still slumped on her bed, fast asleep, so she sets to waking her up herself.

She starts with standing by her bedside and saying, in the softest voice she can, “Lena?”

When that doesn’t work, she tries it louder.

But when that doesn’t work again, she gently shakes her shoulder, calling, “Hey, Lena I have lunch.”

But Lena doesn’t wake up. And Kara figures, _she’s probably just a heavy sleeper_, and she just increases the aggressiveness of her methods just a touch on each attempt, and it’s when she’s practically shoving a pillow up Lena’s face when she realizes that Lena’s _just not waking up_.

She’d freak out over it if she couldn’t hear Lena’s light snores and the gentle thump of her heartbeat (she still lightly grazes a finger under her nose to feel for the puff of air when she breathes); but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that this isn’t normal and something’s _wrong_.

And it has to do with last night.

She was worried to find her already drunk when she leaves and arrives back from a Supergirl emergency that took about 20 minutes tops. She doesn’t drink often, or at all, but she knows enough from watching her friends that humans don’t get to the level of drunk Lena was in just in that short amount of time.

So something must’ve happened while she was out, and it most probably had something to do with the fact that they were out at an _alien bar_, but the only way of finding out exactly what happened to Lena was asking those who were there.

She sends the same text to Alex, Winn, and James.

**Kara Danvers [2:26 PM]:** hey, do you guys know what happened to Lena last night while I was out?

Winn and James reply almost instantly, practically saying the same thing; they were playing pool the entire time.

It wasn’t really all that helpful, but Alex hasn’t replied yet, and she knows that the alien bar only opens after 5 PM so she can’t go there to ask M’gann (she’s also feeling a little hesitant to leave Lena alone, even if she is unconscious), so she settles with pacing around her living room while she waits for Alex to reply.

She’s been pacing for a grand total of 7 minutes, and she’s already reaching for her phone to give her sister a call when someone knocks on her door.

It’s Alex.

Looking a little sheepish and guilty.

“Alex! I’ve been—”

“Yeah I got your texts.”

Kara steps aside to let her sister in, rambling as she does. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, she’s been asleep for more than 10 hours and it’s not like I haven’t _tried_ to wake her up, because I have! I even tried throwing a pillow at her and—”

“Kara!” Alex interrupts. “I know what’s wrong with her.”

“You—” Kara blinks, “...do?”

Alex sighs, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Then rubs her palms together. “Yeah. I, um, do.”

Kara just looks at her sister. “You haven’t even looked at her.”

“I don’t have to.”

“Okay? Well, what’s wrong with her then?”

“Promise you won’t get mad.” Alex winces.

“Wha—_Alex_. What did you do?” Kara starts warningly.

“I may have, um,” Alex winces, “Gave her some alien alcohol last night.”

“You _what_!?”

“It was just to lower her inhibitions so I could—”

“What, _interrogate_ her!? We talked about this!”

“I tried to let it go, Kara,” Alex explains. “But I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t trust her—”

“And you didn’t trust me either, apparently!” Kara scoffs, incredulous. “I can’t believe you’d—even after I’ve told you to stop—”

“It’s not like that. You know it’s not. I was trying to protect you.”

“I think you should go.”

Alex pauses. “Kara, come on—”

“I’m serious, Alex. I’m very mad right now and I don’t wanna say anything I might regret.”

“Okay, alright, I’ll go,” Alex sighs, then pulls a small vial of glowing orange liquid from his jacket pocket. “M’gann says this antidote can be diluted with other liquids.”

“_Antidote?_ Rao, Alex, did you _poison_ her!?”

“No!” Alex defends. “No, the liquor I gave her is very popular on the black market because it hits hard and fast and it’s _safe_ for humans. It just takes a while for the hangover to wear off and this—” she hands the vial over to Kara “—should help.”

Kara reaches over to accept the vial. “Fine.”

“Look, I’ll leave now, just…” Alex chews on her lip. “I’m sorry, alright? I was wrong. I crossed a line. I should have trusted you. I see that now. I’m sorry it took awhile for me to realize that.”

Kara shifts her eyes from the vial to her sister. “I’ll try to wake Lena up again to drink this. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Alex sighs, but eventually leaves.

//

When Lena wakes up, it’s night time, and she is very confused.

And also very sick.

She has no idea where she is, but she finds a bucket on the bedside anyway, so she throws up there.

Warm hands push her hair out the way while she pukes out her stomach’s contents.

When she’s done, the bucket gets pulled away from her shaking hands and she’s finally greeted with Kara’s concerned face.

And the first thing she manages to say is, “What the fuck.”

Then a whole glass of orange juice is being pushed into her hands, but the idea of consuming anything right now really makes her want to throw up again and she tries to push it back away.

“It’ll make you feel better,” Kara tells her.

And for some reason she trusts her, so even if the very thought makes her sick, she manages to down all of the juice and it’s pretty miraculous how most of the nausea immediately disappears after that.

“What the fuck is that,” Lena says when she’s finally mostly lucid.

Kara places the mostly empty glass on the bedside table before answering, and Lena finally manages to survey her surroundings.

She’s definitely not in her own apartment, that’s for sure.

“It’s, um,” Kara starts, looking for words. Lena faces her, unsure why Kara looks worried or even _nervous_. “Do you remember anything?” she asks, hesitantly.

Lena blinks, but she doesn’t really remember anything beyond arriving at the bar, much less being taken to the reporter’s apartment. She finally sees the digital clock on the bedside table; it reads _01:26_.

They had arrived at the bar at around 7 in the evening.

_I didn’t even last 5 hours?_

And it seems that _Lena’s_ the first to pass out for the night (which is simply unheard of, she usually handles alcohol better than most). She flushes, embarrassed. “Did I do something embarrassing?” she asks, burying her reddening face in her hands.

It’s a completely valid question to ask, it’s been _so long_ since she’s been passed out drunk. The last time it happened, she was a sophomore in college and woke up with voice mails from a stranger that she apparently shared a kiss with that wouldn’t stop calling for several months. She had to threaten them in a very colorful way to be finally left alone.

“You don’t remember anything?”

Lena peeks at Kara through her fingers, and shakes her head. “Not anything past the shots with everyone…” she admits. She looks back at the clock on the bedside table. “We weren’t even out for that long.”

Lena catches Kara’s expression twist in confusion, looking from the clock and back to her. The blonde takes a deep breath, as if preparing for something, and says, “Lena, it’s Sunday.”

A pause.

Then, “_What!?_”

Kara winces, and Lena scrambles off the bed, digging through her pants pockets, hoping to find her phone.

“Where’s—” she taps around her pants, then ruffles through the blankets of the bed she’s been occupying, “Where’s my phone?”

“Oh!” Kara jumps to her feet, scrambling around and grabbing her phone from where it was charging on the bedside table at the other side.

Lena reaches over and snatches it from the reporter’s hands, turns on the screen.

_Sunday._

“Wha…” Lena breathes out.

Kara circles back around, approaching Lena carefully.

Lena just stares at the date on her phone, mouth agape. “I…” she trails off.

“Have been asleep since Friday night,” Kara finishes for her.

“How…”

Kara sighs, pulling Lena by her sleeves to sit her back down on the bed. 

And Lena can’t do anything but gape at the date on her phone, trying to make sense of the fact that she apparently missed a whole day from what’s supposed to be a fun night out with her _friends_, and—oh _god_, can she even still call them her friends? She can only imagine what sort of things she’s done, and what Kara had to go through; having to bring her friend, who apparently couldn’t handle her alcohol, to her own apartment and—

(She can feel her hands shaking, her heart jumping up to her throat, her lungs constricting—)

“Lena?”

Lena whips around, sees Kara’s concerned eyes.

“Hey,” she says softly, grabbing Lena’s hands; she sets the phone aside on the cushions of the bed, and brings both inside her own. “Breathe with me.”

The contact grounds her, and they stay like that for a couple of minutes, with Lena matching Kara’s breaths, until her hands stop shaking and her lungs stop chasing for air.

“I…” Lena starts again when she feels confident enough. “I mean, how…?”

Kara sighs, dropping their still clasped hands between them. “You drank some alien alcohol that had some pretty extreme effects on humans.”

Lena blinks at her—in retrospect, it doesn’t seem like a very far-off explanation; they _were_ at an alien bar. But still. “I… _what_?”

“I already called the bartender—she’s the friend of a friend—and she told me there aren’t any long-lasting effects for humans, and it’ll be completely out of your system once you, uhm,” Kara clears her throat, doing a vague gesture with her hands. “Throw it all up.”

Lena’s still confused. She likes to think that with her critical mindset, she’d be aware enough not to try any off-world consumables without thorough research even while piss drunk.

“Apparently the drink goes for high prices in the black market because some humans like it a lot, so…” Kara mumbles.

“Wait, wait,” Lena interrupts. “I don’t—” she shakes her head, still not understanding just _how_ it happened—and the fact that her stomach’s churning again isn’t helping at all. “I mean, I _wouldn’t_—”

“Yeah, that’s the thing, you sort of weren’t… aware…?” Kara tries, wincing. “That you were drinking, uhm, alien alcohol.”

There’s a sort of awkward silence as Lena digests the information, and Kara tries to fill it up with rambling, and Lena has to remember to control her breathing when the blonde reveals that it’s _Alex_ who gave her the alien alcohol; with her simultaneously remember that said woman works for the _goddamn FBI_. Kara even makes the effort of making her feel better when she tries to pass off her drunken escapades as _endearing_ of all things.

“—and apparently you have a _brother_, and I didn’t—”

“_What?_”

Kara backtracks for a moment. “You told me about your brother…? You were talking about kaleidoscopes…”

Lena drowns out the rest, and all she can think about now is _Kara’s sister works for the FBI_, and now apparently Kara _knows_ about her _brother_, and this _cannot_ end well.

She shoots up to her feet.

“Lena?”

“I-I have to go…” she says hastily, looking around the room for her stuff. She sees her shoes by the corner of the bed and darts towards it. Luckily the laces are loose enough that she slips them on effortlessly.

“Wait, Lena, it’s—”

“It’s fine,” Lena cuts off, already predicting Kara’s _it’s late_. She’s out of the bedroom by the time Kara catches up to her.

“It’s _not_ fine,” Kara argues, “It’s dark out, it’s not safe.”

“I’ll get a cab.”

Kara manages to slip in front of Lena, blocking her path to the apartment’s door. “_Lena_, come on, it’s late. Just stay the night, we can talk in the morning and…”

“_I can’t_.”

It comes out harsher than she intended it to, and she can only watch when Kara’s expression turns from concerned to hurt.

Kara’s resolve crumbles pretty quickly after that, and the blonde allows her to push past her to leave the apartment.

//

Kara gives herself 15 minutes before she’s in the air, following Lena from high above the clouds, to make sure she gets back to her apartment safely.

Her mind is already racing with different ways she could apologize to Lena and reprimand Alex tomorrow by the time she’s flying back home, but before she gets there, she feels her phone buzz in her boots and she fishes the thing out in the air.

She’s greeted with an image of a beaten, bruised, and tied up Mon-El when she unlocks her phone.

_What the—_

Her phone pings with a message containing an address.

“Crap,” she mutters to herself, already turning towards the location’s direction.

//

It doesn’t take long for Lena to regret snapping at Kara, but it takes a while for her to figure out how to say sorry, so she comes into CatCo early on Monday morning carrying a box of cinnamon buns from Noonan’s and heads straight to the reporters’ bullpen.

She bumps into James first. “Hi, James.”

“Lena!” he greets, boyish smile on his face. “Hey, how are you? Didn’t hear from you after Friday night and you were knocked out pretty early.”

Lena winces at the reminder of Friday night. The memory has come back to her a few hours after waking up the night before and leaving Kara’s apartment. “Yeah, um, have you seen Kara?” she asks, hoping the diversion isn’t that much noticeable.

“She’s not in her office?”

“I tried, but it’s locked.”

“Huh,” James thinks. “She’s usually here pretty early.”

“Oh…” Lena trails off, at a loss. She peeks at her phone’s screen, but her texts to the blonde are still unanswered. 

James eyes the Noonan’s take out box in her hands. “You can try calling Alex, she usually knows where she is.”

Lena nods, already bringing up Alex’s contact screen. “Thanks, James.”

“No problem.” James looks at her a bit hesitantly, before saying, “Hey, um…”

Lena looks back at him from her phone screen, sensing that he has more to say.

“I just wanted to say that, uh,” James hesitates, “Well, I’ve been there. I mean—there, meaning, the whole Kara thing.” He makes a gesture with his hands.

_The… whole Kara thing? What?_

“And, well, it didn’t really work out,” he continues. “But she seems to really like you and—not that I’m glad that we didn’t work out—I’m glad that she has that. With you, I mean.”

_Oh my god, what—_

Lena eyes widen when she realizes what James is saying. “I—”

“Anyway!” James unintentionally interrupts, glancing down at his watch. “I gotta catch an early meeting. You have Alex’s number, right?”

Lena nods absently, still trying to digest what just transpired.

“Alright, cool. Gotta go now.” And with that, James leaves, leaving Lena slack-jawed in the middle of the CatCo reporter bullpen.

//

Lena eventually snaps out of it and calls Alex.

“Good morning, Alex.”

“Lena?” She hears the sound of rushing wind in the background, and assumes that Alex is on her motorcycle.

“Yes, it’s me,” she replies. “Listen, um, do you know if Kara’s coming in for work? She isn’t here yet and she isn’t exactly replying to any of my texts.”

“She isn’t replying to any of _your_ texts?” Alex asks, confused. “I’ll stop by her apartment before I head into work. I’ll call you back.”

Lena chews on her bottom lip, not satisfied with the lack of answer from Alex. At least she can check on the blonde, wherever she is. She just can’t shake off the feeling that something must be wrong, it isn’t like Kara to just disappear like this.

She hangs up shortly after that.

Her phone’s screen flashes back to her contact list, and she taps on Kara’s name which is right under Alex’s. She’s the only one with a contact photo on her phone—it’s a photo she took of the reporter when they went to some Ethiopian restaurant; Lena’s hand just sticks in the frame, holding out a piece of flatbread and Kara’s head is angled towards it, her mouth comically wide.

There’s a heavy feeling in her chest that she isn’t used to when she looks at the picture, and she taps on the call button again.

_“Hi, this is Kara Danvers. I’m probably busy, try again in a few hours!”_

Lena sighs, putting her phone back in her pocket and tries not to think about it for the rest of the day.

//

The feeling in her bones that Kara gets whenever she drains her powers hits differently every time. Of course, she hasn’t particularly solar flared a lot ever since Red Tornado—she _barely_ felt anything other than the adrenaline crash after the fight—but the bone-deep tiredness she’s feeling now after being forced to deplete her powers is probably akin to something more like a terrible hangover.

She still feels the _thud_ her body makes on the concrete after being thrown to the floor, but she can only as much as grunt in response to the pain that shoots up her side. She barely registers the object slipping out of her boots.

She hears the heavy metal doors open up, Lillian Luthor—at least now she knows who’s the Luthor behind Cadmus—enters the room with a flank of bodyguards.

She still tries to compose herself, despite her simultaneously feeling like her insides are both on fire and every movement feeling like she’s underwater.

“Whaddaya want with m’ blood?” she slurs out as best as she can, struggling to her feet. She clutches on to the bars of her cell as she tries her best to meet the Luthor's eyes.

Lillian just smiles at her, flourishing the syringe of her blood and transferring its contents to a sealed tube.

Kara’s preparing a retort—just to get under Lillian’s skin, if anything else—but gets cut off by a dreadfully familiar vibrating pattern, and everyone in the room’s eyes diverts to the object on the floor of Kara’s cell.

It’s her cellphone.

It must’ve slipped out of her boot.

_Lena Kieran calling_

“Who is that?” Lillian’s voice cuts through.

“No one,” Kara answers, all cloudiness suddenly gone from her mind.

Lillian doesn’t even hesitate when she pulls out a gun from somewhere in her coat and points it at Kara. “How do you know her?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“I can kill you now,” she says, “Besides, I already have what I came for.” Lillian cocks the gun in dramatic effect, and Kara has to swallow down the shiver in her spine.

“No, stop!” Mon-El intervenes. Kara has to twist her head around to actually look at him. He’s slouching against the bars, a trail of blood running down his trousers from the gunshot wound on his leg. “She works at—CatCo! She has black hair—”

“No!” Kara interrupts, “Mon-El, _what_—”

Lillian shoots her gun up to the ceiling, quieting them both. “That’s all I need,” she says, a pleased smile on her face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

The Luthor leaves the room alongside her flank of bodyguards, and Kara is left with Mon-El.

“What have you done!”

“I saved your life—”

“—and possibly doomed Lena’s!”

Mon-El bows his head down. “I—I didn’t think about it too much, she had a gun on you, and…”

Kara buries her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to hopefully calm her breathing. She’s still a little shaky when she brings herself to her feet, walking towards the bars in her cell and trying to pry them apart with her hands. The bars don’t budge. “We need to get out of here.”

“How?”

“My strength isn’t working.” She tries to look around the room, but it’s pretty much barren, until her eyes land on Mon-El again. “You need to dig out the bullet.”

“I—_what_?”

“You need super strength to break the bars and your powers won’t work while you have that lead bullet in your leg. You’ll heal once we get outside in the sun and you won’t feel it anymore.”

“Fine, fine,” Mon-El relents, “Just… give me a few minutes.”

It takes several minutes for Mon-El to work himself up to actually digging around his leg wound for the bullet, and an even more colorful selection of swear words until he actually gets it out. He tosses the bullet as far as he can and it pierces through the cement wall.

He looks over at Kara. “Let’s get out of here.”

//

Alex has just arrived at the DEO after finding Kara’s apartment empty when she sees Mon-El carrying Kara leap inside the building.

“Kara!” She jogs towards her sister. She’s still a few feet away when she sees both aliens engage in a shouting match that ends with Kara throwing a fist toward Mon-El’s face and an ominous _crack_ reverberating in the area.

Kara’s face twists in pain and it makes Alex move into a full-blown run when she sees her sister crouch down, cradling the hand she just used to punch Mon-El.

“What _happened_?” Alex questions when she reaches both of them.

“We got kidnapped by Cadmus,” Mon-El answers.

“You were—_don’t move your hand!_” Alex fusses over Kara, looking over her injured hand. She looks around the command center and catches Winn’s eyes. “Agent Schott, accompany Mon-El to J’onn.” She looks to Mon-El. “Tell him everything that happened.”

The two don't really waste any more time and follow Alex’s orders, and in no time the two sisters are left alone.

“Your hand looks broken.”

“I-I have to get to CatCo,” Kara says, wincing in pain. “Can I borrow your bike?”

“Kara, your hand is broken. How do you even expect to drive it?”

“No, I’m fine,” Kara insists. “I just—I have to get to—”

“You can’t go to work like this—”

“I have to get to Lena!”

The outburst stuns Alex. “Okay,” she relents. “Just let me cast your hand, and I’ll drive you myself. In the meantime, you tell me what happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, I did NOT mean for this to take so long. Work just got so busy, and I'm always so tired afterwards. Hope y'all are staying safe!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just two good friends, having totally platonic and intimate conversations.

Lena is just about to finish up with her work when Macky knocks on the server room’s door.

“Uh, Lena?” she calls, peeking inside the room.

“Macky?” Lena twists around in her chair. “Did you need anything?”

“Well, no, but uh—”

Then suddenly, a loud voice, “_Lena!?_”

Lena shoots up to her feet. “Is that—?”

“Kara Danvers is looking for you,” Macky finishes for her. “She’s a little, well…”

Lena pushes past Macky and is on her way into the IT department’s bullpen when she’s suddenly wrapped in a pair of arms.

“Lena!”

“Kara?” Her arms automatically wrap around the other woman, and she can feel the sweat on her back seeping through her shirt. “Are you okay?”

It’s only when Kara lets go of her when she notices—

“What happened to your _hand_?”

That’s when Lena takes in Kara’s entirety—she doesn’t seem to be dressed for work; she’s wearing a dark shirt and sweatpants, there’s a cast around her right arm, her hair is haphazardly tied up, glasses crooked on her face, she’s sweating bullets, and her face is flushed. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that something’s wrong.

“_Kara_,” Lena sighs, trying to calm Kara’s trembling by holding onto the reporter’s shoulders. She tries to keep a distance to assess her if anything, just to survey her friend, but the blonde seems reluctant of whatever distance is between them and keeps pushing into her space.

Not that Lena minds, per se. There’s a sort of relief that washes over her over the fact that Kara’s finally here, after trying her best not to worry over her absentee friend the entire day.

But the reporter’s state leaves her with more questions than she started with.

“Kara,” Lena repeats, trying to get the woman to look at her properly, and when she finally does, she looks at the sweat gathering on her forehead and she wipes it away with a hand, then winces away. “Oh my god, Kara, you’re burning up.”

“I-...I—”

“Kara, you need to go home and rest,” Lena says.

But Kara’s shaking again, and Lena’s starting to hear some sniffling and hiccuping, and her resolve completely breaks.

“Alright, I’m taking you home.”

//

The prospect of leaving and going home seems to calm Kara down considerably, but she still seems reluctant to part with her in any way, standing just a few inches away as Lena packs up her things.

It only takes Lena a few minutes to gather her things and shoot a text to Macky and Cat that she’s heading home early, and in no time Lena is finally driving them both back to Kara’s apartment.

And it seems that Kara’s suffering from an adrenaline crash during the drive, as Lena switches from watching the road and watching Kara fight against her drooping eyelids on the passenger seat. The reporter, every once in a while, startles awake and glances over to her and takes a deep breath, as if relieved to still see Lena there.

(Which, honestly, just raises even _more_ questions, because what the _hell_ happened to Kara?)

Kara keeps a firm grip on her hand the entire walk back to her apartment and Lena has to coax her to sit down on the couch and relax. She suggests watching a movie, but Kara vehemently declines because it’ll make her drowsy.

“That’s sort of the point,” Lena says, matter-of-fact. “So you can relax a little bit.”

Kara sits up a little straighter. “I’m not tired!” she exclaims, standing up now. “Are you hungry? I can make us something to eat. I’m pretty sure I have some fruits, I can make you a fruit salad!”

Lena does try to stop her, to the extent of even blocking her path to the kitchen, but Kara just manages to circle around her and before Lena even knows she’s already pulling out an entire bowl of fruits from her fridge and prepping the chopping board and knife.

“Kara,” Lena tries, “I don’t think chopping fruits is such a good idea considering your arm.”

“No, no it’s fine,” Kara insists, already struggling to take a banana’s peel off. “Actually, can you help me with this?”

Lena sighs, going over to the kitchen to peel the banana. “How about you sit down on the couch and I can make the fruit salad?” she suggests, but Kara ignores it. She’s half way to calling Alex, her apprehension to contact the woman not beating her concern for her friend right now. She’s distracted thinking about this when Kara suddenly yelps, the knife she was holding previously clanging against the countertop.

“_Kara!_” Lena rushes over to her.

Kara’s already cradling her bleeding hand. “I’m fine, I’m fine—” she hiccups, already close to tears. “It’s just a cut—oh Rao it’s bleeding so much—”

Lena inspects the cut; it’s not that deep, just a light gash, the kind that does bleed a lot, but it’s nothing critical. “It’s fine, you’re okay,” Lena shushes her friend, who’s obviously in a right state at the moment. “We’ll just clean it right up and it’ll be okay.”

She grabs a clean kitchen towel, runs it under the sink, and dabs on the cut while applying pressure. The bleeding stops after a while, and Lena puts on a band aid she found in Kara’s bathroom with bacon prints on it.

“Alright, that’s it,” Lena sighs, almost exasperated. “_You_ are going to sit down and pick a movie while I clean up the kitchen.”

“But—”

“_No buts_,” Lena interrupts. “Kara, you look like you’re about to pass out on your feet, you’re in no state to be walking around and doing stuff. So you’re going to sit down and pick a funny movie. I already ordered a pizza.”

Kara pouts, like, full-on pouts. It’s sort of amazing to see.

(And also _kind of_ adorable, if Lena has to admit it.)

But the blonde still looks hesitant to actually do what she says so Lena starts again, gentler this time. “Kara, I’ve been worried about you the entire day because you haven’t been responding to any of us, then you storm into the IT department covered in sweat and on the verge of tears. Can you just let me take care of you for a moment?”

Kara looks down.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on,” Lena continues. “Will you just let me do this?”

Kara meets her eyes and meekly nods.

Lena gently smiles at her, walking over to the reporter and wiping off the sweat on her forehead with her hand and standing on her tippy toes to place a kiss there.

Finally somewhat appeased that Kara didn’t fight her decisions, she turns back around to clean the mess in the kitchen. “I know you’re still standing there,” she says.

She hears a shuffle behind her the sound of ruffling cushions.

//

While Lena washes the dishes, Kara has about two mini freak outs on the couch.

First freak out is just what the _hell_ was with her freezing over a simple forehead kiss (because forehead kisses are pretty common, right?), and of course there’s that whole _no powers mean I can’t protect Lena if Cadmus decides to come for them now_, and really the only appropriate reaction to that is telling her sister.

** Kara Danvers [3:46 PM]: ** Alex!!!!

** Alex Danvers [3:46 PM]: ** What’s wrong? Are you okay?

** Kara Danvers [3:47 PM]: ** I’m fine I just

** Kara Danvers [3:47 PM]: ** don’t have my powers

** Alex Danvers [3:47 PM]:  ** Yeah your wrist is fractured

** Alex Danvers [3:47 PM]: ** Are you okay? Does it hurt? I’m on my way to your apartment

** Kara Danvers [3:48 PM]: ** no I’m with Lena in my apartment

** Kara Danvers [3:48 PM]: ** but I don’t have my powers

** Kara Danvers [3:48 PM]: ** what if cadmus decides to strike now I won’t be able to do anything

** Alex Danvers [3:49 PM]: ** I have agents monitoring your perimeter

** Kara Danvers [3:51 PM]: ** ok I’ll try to get her to stay over for the next few days

** Alex Danvers [3:51 PM]: ** Wait what

“So,” Lena says, approaching the couch carrying a mug. Kara quickly hides her phone, which she feels vibrate from new texts from Alex, most likely. “I made some chamomile tea I found in your cupboard, something to sort of ease you into the pizza I just ordered.”

“Oh, thank you,” Kara mumbles, accepting the mug.

“So what movie did you pick?” Lena asks, settling on the other side of the couch.

Kara flushes. She hasn’t picked a movie. “Oh, um…”

All of a sudden, a knock reverberates around the room and the noise jolts Kara so much that she jumps towards Lena, engulfing her in her arms, shielding her from any potential danger that must’ve caused the noise.

Another knock sounds from her door, and Kara tightens her hold on the woman, and Lena’s phone vibrates from somewhere between them.

“Kara, darling,” Lena tries to ease her, running a soothing hand down her back. “It’s just the pizza delivery. They messaged that they’re outside right now.”

Lena tries to go for the door, but Kara insists on getting it herself, and Lena eventually lets her, trailing behind her. But the person at the other side of the door isn’t the pizza delivery man, it’s Alex, and Lena’s spine tenses involuntarily at the sight of the woman.

“Alex!” Kara exclaims in surprise. “I didn’t know you were coming!?”

“I texted you that I was on my way here,” Alex replies.

Lena doesn’t know how to feel right now, to be perfectly honest. She wants to swallow down whatever wariness she feels around Alex, for the sake of Kara, really. But she can already feel her throat closing in so she grabs her hand bag hanging on the coat rack and tries to leave as fast as she can. “Well, now that Alex is here I guess I could—”

“No!” Kara all but screams, so much that Lena stops in her tracks. “No, stay, I mean—” Kara scrambles to collect her words. “What if—”

“What Kara means is,” Alex interrupts for her. “I was just stopping by to check on her. I need to get back to work.” She looks a little chagrined, which Lena notices.

“Oh, alright,” Lena says. Maybe a little relieved, she doesn’t know. If anything, she’s just worried for Kara; but still wary around Alex. She doesn’t know if Alex knows that she knows about the whole alien alcohol incident. “I can stay.”

Kara sags in relief in the background, completely oblivious to the tension between Alex and Lena.

“Well, I’ll just…” Lena hooks her hand bag up again in the coat rack by the door, and receives the pizza in Alex’s hand. “Freshen up in the bathroom so you could… check on each other.” She gives Alex a tight smile, then so much as brisk walks her way to the bathroom.

Lena thinks she hears the siblings engage in whispered squabbling behind her, but all she can mostly hear is the blood rushing to her ears. She locks the door behind her once she reaches the bathroom then leans over the sink, taking in a deep breath.

//

“What are you doing here!?” Kara whisper-shouts once she’s mostly sure that Lena’s out of earshot.

“I wanted to check in on you!” Alex whisper-shouts back. “I mean, can you blame me!? You’re solar flared!”

“But Lena’s—”

“I was already on my way here when you texted me.”

“No, I mean Lena _knows_.”

Alex pauses. “Knows what?”

“About—about the alien booze, Alex! I told her after she woke up from her literal day-long sleep.”

“What—_Kara_,” Alex splutters. “Why would you—”

“_Why would I tell her?_” Kara finishes for her. “Because she deserves to know! And look I don’t wanna worry about this now—”

“_Kara_, come on—”

“_No_, Alex!” Kara exclaims, louder than she intended it to be. “I’m already worried about Cadmus and I don’t want to worry about you too.”

Kara regrets the words as soon as it comes out of her mouth.

Alex stands back, stunned. “_Kara_,” she breathes out, voice trembling, and by the way Kara knows her sister, she knows she tried her best to hide that. “You know I wouldn’t—”

“But you _did_,” Kara says. “You _have_. And we’ll talk about this soon, and you’ll apologize to her because I’m not supposed to be the one to forgive you, but you can’t do that now because Cadmus is _out there_ wanting to _hurt_ her.”

She sees Alex swallow, her words sinking in. Kara doesn’t know if she went too far, but the fact that Cadmus, who has already killed humans and god knows how many aliens, has Lena on their hit list is taking a toll on her and she’d rather focus on _that_ problem rather than anything else, and Alex’s presence around Lena is making that hard.

“Okay,” Alex eventually says, face blank but eyes shining. “I’m going. I won’t be too far. I’ll be watching around for the night.”

“Alright,” Kara breathes out. “Thanks.”

“Don’t forget to get some sun in the morning,” Alex reminds her, looking down at her hands. “I-I’ll get going now.”

Kara nods, wordlessly watching as Alex leaves and closes the door behind her.

//

“Are you guys alright?” Lena asks once she allows herself to leave the bathroom (a few seconds after she hears the front door open and close). “I think I heard your voices while I was in there.”

Kara is already sitting on the dining table, but the pizza box is still unopened before her. She looks over at Lena once she hears her leave the bathroom. “Oh, yeah, uhm, well, you know.”

“Mhm,” Lena furrows her eyebrows at the word vomit.

“Lena,” Kara starts, sitting straighter. “About Alex—”

“It’s not your fault,” Lena quickly interrupts her. “You don’t have to apologize for your sister.” She takes the seat next to her, turning to face the other woman. “I don’t blame you. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you.”

“What? What for?”

“I took it out on you that night.” Lena scoffs. “Well, midnight. Or early morning, whatever. But the point is,” she continues, “I shouldn’t have… left like that. I was out like a light for an entire day, and you were probably taking care of me as you do, and the minute I wake up I lash out on you.”

“No, Lena, that’s not—”

“Please let me finish,” she gently stops her. “I have… a lot of secrets,” Lena starts, taking a deep breath. “Well, not a lot, but a really big one, and… this isn’t me telling you, just to make that clear.”

“Of course, Lena, and you don’t even have to tell me—”

“But I want to. And I will. Just not now. This is more of a… promise, that I will tell you. Eventually.”

Kara grabs Lena’s hand gently with her uninjured one. “You can take your time, and like I said, you don’t even have to tell me if you don’t want to, and if you do, it won’t change anything.”

Lena laughs, but holds onto Kara’s hand tighter. “You can’t be quite sure about that last part.” She sighs. “You’re my first… real friend,” she admits. “Real friend without all the expectations that came with my… past.”

(She calls it her past because that’s what it is now, right? She’s Lena _Kieran_ now, not Lena Luthor—and for all Kara knows, she was never Lena Luthor.)

Lena continues, “And I couldn’t even ask for a better friend, because you’re already _everything_, Kara, and the way I’ve been treating you… You don’t deserve every time I’ve lashed out on you, or walked out on you, but every time I come to my senses you just smile at me and tell me that it’s okay, but for me it isn’t. You deserve better, so I _will_ be better. And that starts with me taking care of you now.”

“Oh.” Kara purses her lips, biting back the huge smile threatening to break out. The conversation feels so _intimate_ and it’s the first time Lena’s really _opened up_ to her, and granted, it isn’t really quite _everything_ yet, but Kara’s never felt closer to her all the same.

//

Lena’s not quite sure how she did it, but Kara successfully makes her agree on staying the night. And it’s not even her first time staying over at Kara’s; there’s that one time with her coming by at midnight with a donut to check on her, and of course when she spent an entire day passed out, but it’s _different_ now because Kara’s insisting that they both sleep on her bed.

“I’m not letting you sleep on the couch,” Kara tells her.

“I’ve done it before,” Lena reasons.

“Yeah, but that was when we had a pile of blankets.” Kara successfully fluffs all five pillows on her bed. “Come on, pick a side.”

Lena pauses. “What?”

“Pick a side,” Kara reiterates, gesturing towards the bed.

“Uh,” Lena tries. “Which side do you usually sleep on?”

“I dunno, I usually just bunch up right in the middle.”

“I’ll just take the window side,” Lena says. “So I don’t accidentally bump on your injured hand while we sleep.”

“Okay!” Kara goes over to her dresser and fishes out two pairs of sleeping wear. It’s two worn out university shirts and two pairs of pyjama pants (one has a floral pattern and the other a cartoon print of three-eyed aliens) and she makes Lena pick which one she wants to wear.

It doesn’t take long until Kara’s zonked out on the bed, apparently a lot more tired than she thought. If Lena listens closely, she can hear the light snores coming from the blonde.

There, in the dead of night, Lena goes through her entire day until she thinks back to her conversation with James that morning, and whatever the hell he was insinuating. She shouldn’t think about it too much, really, but she can’t help where her mind drifts off to, especially when Kara turns in her sleep and her head comes dangerously close to resting on her shoulder and an unbidden thought comes to Lena’s head that she _won’t really mind that happening_, but the thought jars her so much that she resolves to counting sheep until she falls asleep.

//

(The counting sheep method doesn’t really work, but Lena does eventually fall asleep, dreaming of the blonde laying beside her.)

//

Lena wakes up to a cold bed.

She sits up, looking around the room to look for Kara, but she’s nowhere in the makeshift bedroom so she walks past the divider to see Kara, sprawled on the floor before her huge window.

“Kara!”

The blonde jolts awake, sitting up. “I’m up!”

“What are you doing on the floor!?” Lena quickly kneels beside her, looking her over for any injuries.

“Oh, uh,” Kara tries, probably still half asleep. “I was just… the sun.”

“So you decide the appropriate course of action was to lie down on the floor in front of a window!?” Lena says, half hysterical and half incredulous. “You could’ve just opened the curtains in the bedroom.”

“You were… asleep,” Kara finishes, looking flushed. “I didn’t wanna wake you up.”

The reason doesn’t appease Lena, but she’ll die before she admits to feeling a little rush at hearing Kara’s admission. The woman is still too groggy to notice the blush on her cheeks, anyway. “That’s not…” Lena sighs. “I’m supposed to be taking care of _you_, not the other way around.”

Lena stands on her feet, reaching a hand out to the other woman. “Come on, I’ll open the curtains in the bedroom and you can sleep some more while I go get us some breakfast.”

Kara accepts the hand and lets herself be pulled up. “What about work?” she asks, confused.

“I took the day off,” Lena explains. “And you are definitely not coming in.”

It doesn’t take long to convince Kara to get back into bed. Lena opens the curtains and makes sure Kara’s in the vicinity of the sunrays and in no time, Kara’s back to snoring.

Lena decides against going out for breakfast and instead opts to make breakfast with whatever’s in Kara’s kitchen, which, in Kara’s defense _is_ packed to the brim with food, but with less breakfast-appropriate food and more desserts (and desserts hardly constitute a healthy breakfast, in Lena’s correct opinion). She successfully scrummages through the cupboards and finds enough ingredients to make pancakes.

She’s onto her third pancake when Kara comes scrambling in the kitchen, wearing an all-too-big hoodie and sniffling on a runny nose.

“Good morning,” Lena greets.

“G’morning,” Kara mumbles in return. She drops on the seat in front of Lena, and Lena takes the opportunity to survey the blonde’s appearance.

The sniffling could indicate a runny nose, and the slight flush on her skin and sheen of sweat on her forehead could mean that she’s developing a cold, and pair that with a possibly fractured hand and Kara’s probably feeling even worse than under the weather.

“How’s your hand?”

Kara startles and looks at her casted hand as if she just remembered it was there. “Uh—” she starts. “It’s probably just a sprain. Not too bad.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Oh, uh, just a little bit…”

“Ice should help with the pain,” she says. “I could get an ice compress ready after you have your breakfast and you can sit on the couch and watch a movie.”

Kara looks up, alarmed. “What about you?”

“I need to stop by my apartment for a while, get a change of clothes,” Lena explains.

She turns around, setting her dishes in the sink when Kara suddenly sits up, saying, “No!”

Lena twists around in surprise.

“I-I mean…” Kara scrambles, looking flushed. “I have some clothes here you could borrow! Well, they might be a little big on you, but you’ve borrowed clothes from me before and it looked fine on you. So you don’t have to go all the way back to your apartment to get some clothes and—”

“Kara,” Lena interrupts. It seems the blonde is still reluctant to be alone. “It’s fine,” she tries easing her. “We can call Alex over, and I can leave once she arrives so you don’t have to be alone.”

“B-But…” Kara chews on her bottom lip, scanning around her apartment, then says, “She’s at work! Yeah, um, don’t want to interrupt her while she’s at work.”

She probably should’ve just quickly gone out while Kara was asleep, Lena thought, she would’ve probably gotten back and even got started with the pancakes way before Kara woke up, but alas, she can’t do that anymore. And now Lena has to once again borrow clothes from her friend who seems all too frazzled by the idea of… not even being left alone, it seems, because the suggestion of Alex coming over doesn’t seem to appease her, but with the idea of _Lena herself_ leaving.

Which, again, brings up _even more_ questions.

And it just makes Lena even more guilty about her behavior a few nights ago, because if that caused whatever state Kara’s in right now, a simple apology of food wouldn’t even cut it.

“Alright,” Lena eventually relents. “I’ll stay.”

Kara sighs, relaxing back on her chair. She takes an enthusiastic bite off the pancakes and seems all too pleased with Lena’s decision, that Lena can’t even be disappointed.

//

They’re sitting on the couch now, Kara scrolling through the different movie titles on Netflix, when Lena suddenly says, “You sleep with your glasses on.”

Kara tenses, but barely, then looks over at her. “What?”

Lena giggles, like just _giggles_, and Kara can feel her cheeks turning red just looking at her. “Sorry, I just—” she takes a deep breath, as if calming herself, then continues. “I just remembered these big, thick glasses I used to wear as a kid.” She gestures around her face, exaggeratingly mimicking a pair of glasses. “They were so _heavy_, especially for the eight-year-old me, but they were also really tight around the bridge of my nose so it would stop slipping down my face every time I as much as lean down. I remember sleeping with them one night and just _not_ feeling my nose at all the morning after.”

Kara imagines a little Lena, with bright green eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses and can’t help but smile at the thought of it. “What happened to them now?”

“Well I stopped wearing it after that,” Lena continues. “I thought my nose had fallen off. It was a terrifying thought for little me.”

Kara giggles at that. “Well, I’ll bet. Alex used to do that thing with me when I first arrived at the Danvers’, where she’d pinch my nose and pretend to pull it off.”

“Oh, I know that one!” Lena excitedly says. “Then she’d stick the tip of her thumb between her knuckles and—yeah…” she trails off, looking at Kara, and face turning somber. “I remember my brother doing that. To cheer me up.”

A warmth blooms in Kara’s chest, and she can’t help the smile she points at Lena. “Siblings can be pretty great, can’t they?”

A silence passes through them that Kara doesn’t really mind, one that she wouldn’t really dare to disrupt, so she looks back to the TV to resume her quest on finding a movie.

//

There comes a time in the day when Lena _does_ eventually need something from her apartment, something that Kara can’t let her borrow; but the blonde still remains adverse to the idea all the same.

“I just have to get my laptop,” Lena explains, trying to appease the blonde. “I can come back in less than an hour. You can shower while I’m out and it won’t even feel like I left.”

Kara shakes her head, dissatisfied. “I can come with you?” she suggests.

Lena looks at her, unsure. “How’s your hand?”

Kara makes a show of wiggling her fingers through her cast. She manages to wiggle all four of them except the thumb, without even wincing. She smiles up at Lena when she does.

“Do you feel sick?”

“Nope!”

Lena brings a hand up to Kara’s forehead to gauge her temperature. “You’re still feeling a little warm.”

Kara shrugs her shoulders. “I’m feeling fine, honest.”

Lena sighs, giving up. “Alright,” she says. “You can come.”

//

Collecting her laptop takes a grand total of a minute from the second Lena and Kara enter her apartment; the time it took trying (and failing) to convince Kara not come was even longer.

“Uh, do I need anything else?” Lena asks herself mostly, because the trip did kind of feel useless because of the short errand.

“Extra clothes?” Kara suggests. She’s sitting on the couch, and the blonde would die before admitting the flights of stairs they had to climb up to get to Lena’s apartment knocked out some of her energy (so maybe she _is_ still feeling a little worn out, but she’s better than she was yesterday). “I mean, you could always borrow some clothes from me but we _are_ already here.” It takes a while for Kara to realize what she’s saying, and her eyes suddenly widen. “I mean—uh—given that you _do_ still wanna sleep over at my place. Not that I’m assuming you do! But maybe you’d be comfier sleeping in your own bed—”

“Kara,” Lena interrupts her. Then she asks gently, “Do you want me to stay over again?”

She chews on her bottom lip, cheeks turning a little red, before meekly nodding.

“Then I’ll stay over again. Let me just pack an overnight bag and we can get going.”

//

Kara’s already feeling considerably well compared to her state yesterday thanks to her morning sunbathe. Yeah, she still hasn’t gained full range of movement on her injured hand, still gets a little short of breath when she moves too much, and out of all her powers, she’s only gotten her super hearing and x-ray vision back, but compared to the constant nausea and throbbing hand she had yesterday, Kara can honestly say she’s feeling _fine_.

Fine enough that she doesn’t really need anyone to watch over her, and she suspects that even Lena knows that, but she doesn’t really say anything else when Kara asks her to stay over again.

And Kara won’t really complain about it, given that Cadmus is most likely still somewhere out there on the loose and wanting to hunt down the other woman.

She also won’t stay anything about the gym bag filled with more than an overnight’s worth of clothes Lena’s carrying back to the car.

What she will say something about is the constant texts Lena’s been receiving ever since before they left her apartment.

Lena has her phone perched on the phone holder on the car’s dashboard and feels Kara’s question before she even gets the chance to ask it.

“It’s just Macky,” Lena explains. “The IT Director at CatCo. I didn’t get to finish the security patch yesterday so she’s asking if I’m still coming in today. I told her I’d just push the update remotely.”

“Oh,” Kara says, feeling a wave of guilt. “Did you need to come in today?”

“Technically, no. I can do most of my work from my laptop since I whitelisted myself. I basically built CatCo’s security infrastructure from the ground up since I started working there.”

Kara bites back a smile, thinking back to the shenanigans Winn got in with his impromptu cyber war with CatCo. “Must’ve been one hell of a job.”

“No kidding,” Lena scoffs. “I actually had to forcefully push back a security threat during my first few weeks. Someone has been harvesting data from the CatCo servers every day in about one hour intervals. I tried to stop it as fast as I could but I ended up accidentally breaking the wifi.”

“Oh!” Kara exclaims. “I remember that! We met that day.”

Lena laughs, as one does when remembering a good memory (at least that’s how Kara chooses to interpret it). “I was much more… reserved back then.”

“And I was a mess,” Kara says, blushing and smiling. “I was devising all these ways to get to know you.”

Lena looks at her for a moment, surprised. “You were?”

“I _really_ wanted to get to know you,” she confesses. “You should ask Winn. I haven’t invited anyone to game night as fast as I did you.”

“Oh.”

Kara thinks she went too far, but she turns to look at Lena and sees her face turning a little red (_Is she blushing?_ Kara thinks).

“Well,” Lena eventually says, turning to her and smiling. “I’m glad you were very persuasive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few, this took a while. Sorry folks, I watched Bly Manor and had to mope for a few weeks.
> 
> No, but srsly - this chapter has gone on a totally different direction to the outline I planned out. But I'm still sorry for the long wait between chapters and not being able to reply to comments. I still appreciate every single one 🥺

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](https://chromeatica.tumblr.com/)!


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